Zugzwang
by diamondlilyflower
Summary: The replicator is here and he's out for blood, more specifically, the BAU team's blood. Everyone is in danger, nobody is safe. Seven screens, seven places, seven team members and not all of them will make it out alive. A different way the finale could go after the first half of 8x23 or thereabouts.
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing from criminal minds, although that would be good. This is set in the series finale of season 8, but doesn't involve anything after the character death. Obvious spoilers for that episode.**

JJ was alone, he was too well prepared. She knew all his plans now, but there was nothing she could do to stop him and that killed her most. She was stuck on the ground, her legs splayed awkwardly in front of her, her hands shackled above her head. Her pristine clothes, usually pristine and meticulously neat were ripped and creased; her hair was stuck to her face from trying to escape so much.

She hadn't cried yet, even though she knew that was almost certainly an eventuality. Her team had no idea what was coming to them and here she was, knowing everything, being chained in the dark with six computer screens in front of her, each one showing a different feed.

The first was Hotch's car, the second was Rossi's front room, the third was Garcia's apartment building steps, the fourth was Reid's apartment, the fifth was Blake's living room and the sixth was Morgan's living room.

There were two things she had to somehow manage to do. She would have to get herself out of the chains that were keeping her down and then she would need to go Garcia style on the computers she was faced with and manage to send a message to the team, telling them exactly where she was, but neither was very likely.

It was hard for her to believe that only about twelve hours ago everything was fine.

_12 hours ago_

_They'd just finished their first case back after Strauss's funeral. They hadn't met her replacement yet; Hotch had been informed that they were hesitant to hire another one until the replicator was caught. But that was becoming a distant hope, not an eventuality. They had no leads at all. He was yet to make a mistake and everything they had done was exactly what the Replicator had wanted them to do._

_The team was a bit disheartened that nothing they had tried had worked, but they had to keep going, they couldn't just stop saving victims and putting away serial killers because of their problems, there were still in excess of a hundred cases that crossed their desks every week, they couldn't sit by and let all those people die._

_JJ was on the phone with Will. He wasn't in Virginia, he and Henry had gone to visit Will's parents for a week, both of them had agreed it was for the best that their son was as far away from the BAU as they could get him._

_"Will, tell him mommy loves him. The house is going to be so quiet when I go home without you two there."_

_"No worries Cher, we'll be back before you know it."_

_That was the end of their phone call._

_"Alright team, everyone head home and get a good night sleep. I'll see you bright and early in the morning." Hotch said._

_They all left without any troubles. JJ pulled up at her house and went inside, locking the door after her. She'd known instantly that something felt off, something wasn't right, but she ignored it, put it down to the fact that she was in the house alone, but she got her phone out anyway._

_As she moved away from the door she dialed Spence. He answered after a few rings. "JJ, if you're going to tell me we have a case-"_

_She cut him off. "No, it's nothing like that. The house is just quiet I guess, with Will and Henry away for the week. I just thought I'd call to talk to somebody, but if you're busy I can always call Garcia…"_

_"No, its fine Jayje just had a bit of a panic that we were going to leave for less than an hour and then have to go back."_

_"I know the fee-"She stopped talking as she was knocked to the ground from behind. She groaned in pain as she landed awkwardly and then went into FBI mode. She launched onto her feet. "Reid, get the team here!" She shouted._

_"Jayje, what's going on? Are you OK?"_

_"Reid, bit busy being attacked here! Call the team!"_

_JJ felt a sting in her shoulder, she looked down and saw the tranquilizer dart, but she couldn't do anything about it, she fell to the ground. The attacker picked her up in his arms and hung up the phone that was strewn on the floor. _

_He got a notecard out of his pocket and left the message for the profilers._

_ZUGZWANG._


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This chapter is quite dark, just a warning.**

The team was stretched very thin. In twelve hours they hadn't gotten any leads on who had taken JJ and it was hitting everyone hard, even, no, especially Garcia. She sat in silence in her computer room, only speaking when spoken to, desperate to find her little sugarplum. For her, it brought her back to that day, when she was searching for Reid and couldn't find anything and then they were sent the video feed and had to watch him being tortured-

There was a beep on the screen. A link to what was most likely a video, before Garcia called the team she just managed to spring from her swivel chair and throw up into the garbage can in the corner of the room.

"Everyone get in here!" She screamed, her voice scratchy and her eyes already filled up with tears. They all were in with her in ten seconds.

"What is it Baby girl?" Morgan asked.

"A video link." She muttered quietly.

"You mean like-"Morgan began.

"Hankel." Hotch interrupted.

Reid visibly paled, but Blake and Rossi just looked confused, Rossi realized who they were talking about first, but didn't say anything.

"Would someone please tell me who Hankel is?" Blake asked.

It was Hotch that answered her after a few long moments of deliberation. "A long time ago before Rossi and you joined the team Reid and JJ went out in the field and split up. JJ was locked in a barn with three rabid dogs but Reid was kidnapped, taken to a graveyard and tortured, the suspect made us watch, it was hard for all of us, but especially JJ, she thought it was her fault because the two of them split up."

Blake's mouth formed a distinctive "O" shape, but she didn't say anything, she just moved away from Rossi and Hotch and stood beside Reid, she took his hand in hers. Morgan sat on the arm of Garcia's chair and Hotch and Rossi stood at the back of the room looking stoic, but apprehensive.

"Do it Garcia." Hotch ordered.

She clicked the link and all the team braced themselves.

The screen was dark at first, but then a flickering light bulb came on, revealing JJ bound to a chair, looking bruised already and with a gag tight in her mouth and Garcia shed a tear. There was a man in the camera shot as well, but nobody focused on him, he was obviously an underling to whoever was doing the recording.

The man went right up to JJ, put his hands on her shoulders and she flinched, he punched her in the face, causing the chair to shake and almost collapse, but he caught it first. Morgan was cursing.

"So BAU team, I guess you know by now that I'm working with the replicator, who is just behind this camera if you want to say hello. Also, you already know that me and your little JJ are having a lot of fun here. So, you know that this is what happened to a certain Mr. Spencer Reid, but who else shall we imitate?" He taunted.

Garcia got another bubble up on the computer manager and made a quick list:

Hotch ~ Stabbed 9 times by Foyet,

Morgan ~ Thrown through a window,

Reid ~ Hankel,

Dave ~ Wife OD

Me ~ Shot

The whole team very quickly understood that she was trying to work out which one the replicator was likely to do next out of the serious injuries that the team had received, other than JJ, it wouldn't be the replicators style to repeat something she'd already gone through. It also couldn't be the two things she had crossed out because she didn't have a wife and it was already Hankel style.

The whole team stood in silence, waiting for the stillness to be broken. The man left the camera shot and for a moment JJ was the only one they could see. It even zoomed in on her face for dramatic effect. They could easily spot the unshed tears in her eyes. She knew they were there, the look in her eyes told them that.

When the camera panned out again the lackey was back in the shot and they could see the cattle prod in his hands and all of them could hear the very distinct buzz of electricity. "No, no that hasn't… we haven't had a case like that…" Garcia was in hysterics already.

"Baby girl, leave the room. If you can't watch it just leave the room." Morgan said from where he had moved to. He was leaning against a wall not too far away from where Hotch and Rossi were, Reid and Blake had moved closer to her though.

"Garcia, look away." Garcia turned to the computer monitor and saw JJ, leaning as far away from the prod as she could go in her binds, but it was her that was telling Garcia not to watch, Garcia smiled a little smile. "Never. I'm not leaving you there."

"Garcia, if something bad happens, don't let Will, never let Will see it. Don't let the team keep looking at it. Promise me you'll turn it off. Turn all your computers off."

"JJ, honey, can you hear me?"

JJ didn't respond, she just nodded ever so slightly that you wouldn't see it unless you were watching out for it. It was then that the communication was interrupted and they saw the cattle prod against JJ's arm as she twitched and writhed, but didn't make a sound. They could see her biting her lip to stop the screams coming out.

Every single member of the team was crying and then the prod was removed before they heard a clicking noise in the background that was obviously the turning of a dial in the background before the prod was put back on the bare flesh on her chest and the whole room erupted in her agonizing screams.

Morgan punched the wall he was leaning on, Rossi and Blake left the room and then Morgan had to forcibly remove Garcia she was in so much hysterics, but Reid and Hotch stayed there, watching everything, Reid was crying, Hotch had a stony look on his face, but his eyes conveyed all the emotion they needed to see.

When the torture finally stopped the camera was put on a tripod and both the torturer and the replicator left JJ alone. She was lucid, Reid could tell. "Jayje? Can you hear me?"

"Reid?"

"JJ, where are you?"

"I don't… I don't know… Reid, it's a basement, but I don't…"

"Alright Jayje. It's fine. You just focus on staying alive. Jayje, do you have any idea who the Replicator is?"

"I'm going to sleep now, you don't need to be creepers…" She was unconscious by the end of it.

"We need to find her Hotch. Before this happens again." Morgan said as he came back into the room.

"Yes, I'm certain we do. We need her to give us something though."


	3. Chapter 3

When Garcia didn't show up for work the next morning they knew something was wrong. As soon as Reid informed Hotch, he called Kevin in and had him start up the computers whilst he forced Reid to call Garcia until she answered or until they knew what had happened.

Even though Hotch told Reid to do that he already had a sneaking suspicion of what had happened to everyone's favorite analyst. He made a few calls and then sent Rossi and Blake over to her place. There was no way he was ever going to send Morgan over, he'd be liable to smash something, or most likely a lot of somethings' if he found out that something had happened to Garcia.

It took Kevin two minutes flat to get the computer online and he didn't have to be in the room to know what they could see. He ran into the computer lair and rested his hands on the back of Kevin's chair as he examined the screen.

"REID!" He yelled.

The young doctor ran into the room, nearly slipping through the door he went so fast. He looked at the screen, but did very well at putting his mask up so that he remained almost professional. "Fetch Morgan. Keep him calm. We need him to see this, but if you don't keep him calm he'll smash up the majority of the things in here and possibly a few of your bones."

He nodded and left the room. Hotch turned back to the screen, running through his mind how on earth they were going to present the good things to Morgan. His phone rang, taking him back out of his thoughts. "Hotchner."

"Hotch, this is Blake. Rossi and I are over at Garcia's. It's trashed, there's a bit of blood in her front room and the coffee table is in pieces. Our best guess is-"

"Just get back here. Both of you. The replicator's got Garcia, I'm looking at her right now. This is an all out attack on us. We need you back here so that we can work this out."

"Yes sir." Blake hung up.

Hotch turned back to the screen and he let Kevin go to the bathroom for a minute, he was tearing up so Hotch let him go to regain his composure.

The first thing Garcia felt was a pound in her head. She opened her eyes groggily, she didn't feel like she was in her bed in her apartment and she certainly didn't feel like she'd fallen asleep in her swivel chair in her office… again.

With more effort than she usually needed to lift her head up, she opened her eyes and lifted her head up to see where she was. The smell made her gag instantly. She was in a dingy looking basement… there was a chair in the middle of the room… there were six computer monitors on one wall… a tripod with a camera on it just in front of them… JJ asleep against the wall… Hotch's face on one of the monitors… wait… JJ?

Penelope suddenly kicked herself into gear and scrambled over to JJ, hesitating for a minute to look at her prone form. She was clearly exhausted and the smell of burned flesh lingered on her, but she gently shook her awake anyway.

JJ was alert in seconds. "Pen?"

"Yeah, buttercup. Its me." Penelope said as she wrapped JJ in her arms.

"How did they…?"

"I think they rang the doorbell." She chuckled at how stupid that sounded. "I… was in a bit of a state after they… did that to you. Boss man sent me home to get some rest and…"

JJ muttered something Garcia didn't hear.

"Jayje, are we going to get out of here?"

"Pen, don't talk like that."

"No, don't talk like that Penelope." Kevin joined in.

"So, you guys can still hear us?"

Kevin and Hotch both nodded. "Garcia, are there any windows? Anything that we can use to track you?"

"No boss. Nothing at all. Just your old run of the mill crazy stalker/ murderer basement, I mean, I'm pretty sure there's about to be a puddle of vomit on the floor if the smell in here gets any worse."

"How's JJ? Is she alright?"

"She's as good as she can be expected to be-"

"And she is right here." JJ said sarcastically.

It was then they heard the very, almost amusingly, ominous footsteps coming down the steps. "Pen, come over here." JJ hissed.

When the replicator came into the room he was careful to stay out of the camera shot and when Garcia spotted who it was, she threw up into the corner of the room.

"Perfect crazy stalker slash murderer dingy basement." She muttered.


	4. Chapter 4

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE REPLICATOR HAS PENELOPE!?" Morgan roared as he slammed Reid into the wall of the bullpen.

"Morgan let go of me!" Reid squealed in terror.

Morgan's eyes visibly softened as he realized what he was doing and dropped the genius back so that his feet were firmly on the floor. But he didn't say anything else, he just ran to the computers in the other room.

It took both Hotch and Kevin and a recently returned Rossi to restrain him again.

"Derek! Stop it! You aren't doing anybody any good by doing this!" Blake pleaded from where she was standing a little way away from them. Morgan didn't appear to be listening to her. "Derek! Look at them!" She shouted. He went quiet from his shouting and cussing.

"Look at them Derek." She lowered her voice again. "Look at JJ." She paused. "Look at Penelope."

Derek went quiet and calmly moved over to the chair that Kevin had moments ago vacated. He sat without a word and stared at the screen in silence. The rest of them looked at him for a moment, before they made a unanimous decision to give him a few minutes of peace in there whilst they set up a board in the bullpen.

"Reid geographical profile and Rossi and Blake, you two try and compile a suspect list from the evidence from the scenes." Hotch ordered. "Kevin, once Morgan's had a few minutes go in there and take control. Remember, it is your room, your command center, in order for him to be there you need to give him permission."

Kevin nodded and then Hotch left him be and joined Reid. "Reid, has anyone called Will?" He asked.

"I don't think so, nobody's had chance, we've been so busy."

"I'll go into my office and call him. He won't take this very well."

Reid nodded and went back to his work, seemingly unaffected by what was going on around him. Hotch left the bullpen and went into his office, shutting the door behind him, locking it and closing the blinds at the windows.

He sat down at his desk and called Will, who answered on the second ring.

"Will, this is Aaron." He greeted.

"Aaron, has my wife's phone died or something? She hasn't answered her phone all day and all yesterday. I haven't heard from her since Henry and I went for our trip and she said she'd have to call to say goodnight."

"Will… JJ is…"

"Spit it out Aaron." Will growled.

"She's missing. She was taken from your house yesterday when she was on the phone to Reid. We are currently working to find them, but with Garcia gone as well we are struggling to come up with leads-"

"Aaron, you need to tell me what you aren't telling me. You aren't telling me everything and I know you aren't." Will snapped.

"We have a live feed on the computers. The girls can see and hear us and us them. Yesterday JJ was extensively burned with a cattle prod."

Will cursed.

"We also know that they know who the replicator is, but both of them are unable to tell us and they have no idea where they are. We've gathered that they're in some kind of basement, but there are no recognizable features. Will, there isn't much we can do until we know more."

"I'll leave Henry with my parents. I'm getting the first flight back to Quantico."

"We'll fill you in on any more developments when you land."

They didn't exchange any more talking. Instead both of them hung up and Hotch put his head in his hands and took a lot of deep breaths. They were in deep trouble. The team was crumbling and he knew that if they didn't get Garcia and JJ back their team would be diffused by the higher ups within a week.

The replicator was on the top of a lot of people's hit lists and none of them would hesitate to pull the trigger.

"How could you?" Garcia whispered.

Both the girls were tightly bound to two chairs that were beside each other. The camera directly in front of them, the replicator out of the shot, with his lackey stood beside him. He whispered something to the lackey and he went straight for Penelope and hit her across the face.

"Stay away from her!" JJ shouted.

In less than half a second the lackey moved and pressed his palm flat against JJ's fresh burn wounds, she gave all the effort she had to not cry out in pain.

"I won't let you hurt Penelope. Not until I'm not breathing." JJ growled in between gasps of pain.

"Oh, that can be arranged."


	5. Chapter 5

It was seven in the morning the next day when Will arrived, Hotch met him at the doors, knowing that he wasn't exactly going to be in a very good mood and he was right. He arrived at the BAU building, looking like he'd slept in the clothes he was wearing and just rolled out of bed and into the offices.

"Hotch let me see my wife." Was all he offered by ways of a greeting.

"I'm not sure whether they're awake yet Will. I've got Kevin and Reid watching them, we're trying to let them rest before something else disturbs them." Hotch told him calmly.

"Agent Hotchner, are you going to make me beg you to allow me to see my wife?" Will snapped, he paused for a moment. "Sorry, it's been a long night."

"Its fine Will, you're under a lot of stress. It's only natural that you'd be at the end of your temper by this stage. Come on then. I'll let you in on Morgan's shift, that should be starting in ten minutes, I'm sure Kevin wouldn't mind the break. He hasn't been off of those computers since we called him in yesterday."

Will nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

"Just be wary about Morgan. Reid has some pretty nasty bruises on his shoulders from where Morgan shoved him into a wall."

When the pair of them went upstairs Hotch called a meeting in the round table room, with all the team and Kevin and Will, he had made one of the lackeys watch the screens for a couple of minutes. "Ok team. I think we all know that we are being targeted by the replicator, but not how we used to be, no, now he is being violent, we have all, pardon Will, seen what has happened to JJ and Garcia. More of us are going to be targeted, so we need to make sure that we aren't alone, ever. If we are ever alone we are targets, JJ and Garcia are proof of that. So I'm now implementing that none of us can go round this building or anywhere else, alone. Do you understand me? Nobody is to go alone."

Everyone nodded after he finished speaking and headed back out of the room.

They weren't doing very well though. They knew that they must be being held within a six hour radius of the city, but that was all they had so far. They had hardly any search perimeters and it was frustrating. Will and Morgan were sat watching Penelope and JJ sleep.

It was an hour after they started their watch that they saw Penelope wake up. Morgan sighed and sent her a wry smile as she pulled herself out of the cot that had been placed in the room and adjusted her hair.

She didn't have on her usual heels, but she still managed to totter closer to the camera as though she was. "Baby girl, you going to check the door?" Morgan asked her.

She nodded silently and checked it, it was locked. She came back over so that she was directly in front of the camera. "So they can see and hear us?" Will asked Morgan quietly.

"Yep." Garcia chirped.

"Penelope, how's JJ?" Morgan asked quietly.

"She's sleeping; she needs you guys to come for us. I can guarantee you she won't let me get hurt until she's dead. She's already struggling, she won't let me look at the burns, but I know she's in pain." She cried.

"Ok, ok baby girl. There's nothing more you can do to help her, not if she doesn't want you to. She's being stubborn, that's all. Is there anything you can do to these computers?"

"I can t-"

She stopped talking; all three of them could hear the ominous footsteps coming down the stairs. "Go wake up Jayje. Personally I wouldn't be very pleased if I was woken up by a serial killer." Will ordered gently.

Penelope nodded and tottered over to Jayje and gently shook her awake. "Come on Jayje. Replicator's back." She told her. JJ was awake instantly, any sign that she had been asleep was instantly gone.

She cast her gaze over to the computer monitor for just a brief moment and when she met eyes with Will, she lit up. "Will?"

"Jayje." He smiled, she smiled and then her smile disappeared just as quickly as it had come.

"Talk to us." Morgan prompted.

Neither woman said anything before the men could see what had them so terrified. Replicator 2.0 as they'd taken to calling him, was in the camera shot and he, he had a whip.

Back out in the bullpen Rossi and Alex were working with Reid on the geographical profile; Hotch had disappeared a few minutes earlier and gone back down to the entrance. Nobody knew why. "Hey, Reid, do you think anyone who's no longer in this team but has been in it before could be a possible target?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure. Probably not none of these cases that have been replicated are back from when anyone else was on the team, except with the video file. Hey, did you know-"

"We get it kid." Rossi interrupted.

"How many people have left this team?" Alex asked curiously.

"Our old unit chief, Gideon and three agents, Seaver, Prentiss and Greenaway."

Suddenly they were interrupted by the doors sliding open and Hotch coming in, but he wasn't alone. "Alright Reid, Rossi, Blake. Look who's back." Hotch said, with one of his rare smiles.

Standing on either side of him were Emily Prentiss and Ashley Seaver.

**Reviews are greatly appreciated. Send me in your opinions!:)**


	6. Chapter 6

Reid was the first to react. He launched forward and wrapped Emily tight in his arms. It felt like so long ago that he had last seen her. Rossi reacted less than half a second after Reid and went straight to Ashley, hugging her tightly.

"How you doing kiddo?" He asked with a smile.

"Good, I'm definitely glad to be back." She laughed.

Rossi and Reid swapped places, whilst Alex hung in the background awkwardly. It was Ashley that noticed her first. When Reid finished hugging her, she stood on her tiptoes and ruffled his hair. He laughed and she couldn't help but notice Hotch and Rossi both let out almost imperceptible sighs of relief.

She left Spencer talking to Emily and she went over to Alex and held her hand out. "I'm Ashley Seaver. I don't think we've met." She said politely.

"I'm Alex, Alex Blake. I didn't join the team all that long ago." Alex smiled. She found herself instantly taking a liking to the younger agent.

"Where's Morgan?" Ashley asked her.

"He's in Penelope's office, watching the feed with Will."

Ashley's mouth formed a distinctive O. " He'll probably want to see Emily." She said to Alex. She was still smiling sweetly, but Alex understood what she was feeling straight away. She had felt it herself when she joined the team.

"Go ahead and talk to him. He'll be happy to see you too, don't you worry." She comforted as she gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

The smaller blonde agent nodded and headed over to Garcia's office. She stood in the doorway for a few moments, just watching. Morgan was sat on the chair closest to her, with Will on the one at the other side of the room. She cast the screen a quick glance and instantly decided not to look again unless she had to.

Will caught her eye after a few more moments, but she raised her finger to her lips with a devious smile. He grinned and turned away from her again. Almost silently she crossed the handful of spaces that were in between hers and Morgan's chair.

"Hey Derek." She said quietly.

His whole body stiffened and he drew in a deep breath. She chuckled as he spun the chair round to face her. "Ashley?" He asked in disbelief.

She nodded and grinned. He wrapped her tightly in his arms for a moment. "Why are you here?"

"Hotch called Emily and I in. Filled us in on this whole replicator farse."

"Emily's here?"

Ashley nodded, her smile slightly fading. He was only standing in front of her another millisecond, he turned on his heels and ran out towards the bullpen. She sighed and collapsed into his newly vacated chair beside Will.

Like Alex, Will could understand exactly what she was feeling. "Will Lamontagne, right?" She asked him quietly.

"Yeah, we didn't see each other much when you were on the team. I take it you're Ashley Seaver?"

She nodded. "They've got themselves into quite a bit of trouble."

It was at that point that she dared a glance back at the screen, she could see the whip and both JJ and Penelope leaning against the far wall in terror. She swallowed as JJ was pulled to her feet and chained in the middle of the room, her back facing them.

"Ashley. Turn the screen off." She looked at Penelope through the screen.

"How? Just turn off the hard drive?"

She shook her head. "Press the button on the top of the screen by the webcam." Penelope instructed.

She hesitated a moment.

"Ashley, do not let my husband watch this!" That was JJ.

Before Will could react Ashley sprang to her feet and hit the button, making the screen go black. Will cursed and lunged for the button, but Ashley blocked his way. "Turn it back on." He growled.

Ashley swallowed, but made no move to turn the screen on again.

"Turn it back on." Will growled, his voice could almost be mistaken as an animals'.

"No." She said bluntly, still not moving.

She saw the change in his eyes at least two seconds before he actually moved. He lunged for her, nothing else on his mind but pressing the button to turn the screen on again, but she was ready for him. He had expected her to be a typical girl and sidestep the human equivalent of a charging bull, but she didn't. She stayed directly in his path.

He swung his fist at her and she had just enough time to react enough to turn her face to protect her nose as much as possible. Pain blossomed in the left side of her face, but she ignored it. He was momentarily distracted and that was all she needed.

She reached her hands out and grabbed his shoulders, restraining him. "Will! Will, they told me to turn it off. You didn't want to watch it, you didn't. Not really." She told him gently. "JJ asked me to not let you see it, so I didn't let you."

Out of her peripheral vision she could see Reid and Morgan, about to jump in between them, but she shook her head. When she cast her gaze back at Will, he collapsed to his knees and broke down in hysterical crying. At that stage she let Morgan and Reid come in. Both of them went straight to Will and Ashley couldn't help the tears that rose up in her eyes that they didn't stop to ask her how she was.

She fled the room and went out into the bullpen. Rossi and Alex both stopped her and made her sit down on a desk chair, Alex ran her fingers along Ashley's cheek to see how bad it was while Rossi found a cold bottle of water in the fridge, the closest thing they had to an icepack.

"You alright Ashley?" Rossi asked her.

"Physically yes." She muttered.

"What's wrong?" Alex prompted.

"Nobody wants me back on this team. Everybody wants Emily back and nobody really cares where I end up. Will has a break down and attacks me and everyone rushes to help him." She said all in one breath.

"Everyone's just stressed. Don't you worry honey." Rossi comforted as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Are you actually coming back full time to the team?"

"Hotch offered me a position and I accepted it. I'm not on loan from another agency, this is my first day back at work."

**Reviews Please! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

When Alex and Ashley were fully engrossed in a conversation and he knew that Ashley wouldn't take the cold bottle off of her face, Rossi stormed through the bullpen and into Penelope's office. Hotch caught his eye and met him by the door. Rossi didn't miss a beat.

"When's anybody going to worry about the poor girl in there?" He snapped.

"What?"

"Ashley! She got a fist to the jaw and not a single person out of you guys in there bothered to even make sure she was alright!"

"Dave, calm down."

"No I won't calm down! That poor kid feels so forgotten about-"

"She isn't a child Dave! She understands that Will is under extreme pressure-"

"I think she understands Aaron, but I don't think she truly understood what it meant until now. She thinks that nobody wants her here. All I ask is that you all take thirty seconds out of your time to come in and speak to her, to check that she's ok."

Hotch nodded, without saying another word because suddenly he understood that Dave was right. Now that it had been pointed out he ran through the events of the day in his mind. When Emily and Ashley arrived, he'd said good morning to Ashley, but hugged and joked with Emily. Then when they went into the bullpen it hadn't been too bad a difference, they both got their nice greets and warm welcomes. But then he remembered when Ashley went to find Morgan only a few minutes before the Will 'incident'. He had seen her go in and less than a minute later Morgan ran out to see his other old partner.

Internally he cursed his stupidity and he moved over to where Morgan, Reid and Emily were all comforting Will. He tapped Morgan on the shoulder and pulled him to the side. "Go check on Ashley." He ordered.

Morgan didn't say anything, but he did leave to go find the small blonde agent. He moved over to Reid, Emily and Will next. "Reid, go find Kevin. He needs to start his shift early." Reid went to leave and as he walked out of the door Hotch called after him "Then check on Ashley!"

"Emily. Would you mind going out into the bullpen with Will?" He asked, blatantly ignoring Will's presence.

She nodded wordlessly.

"Whatever you do, do not let him in here."

"Got it Hotch." She replied.

"Someone needs to take shift with Kevin…" He thought aloud.

"I'll do it." Hotch turned to face the voice behind him. It was Ashley.

"Are you sure? That was quite an incident."

"I'm fine and I can handle a few hours looking at a computer monitor with Kevin." She assured him as she came further into the office and sat down in one of the chairs, waiting patiently as she pressed the on button for the screens and they booted up.

Hotch left, knowing there was nothing he could say to her to get her out of the chair.

The screens turned on.

Ashley gasped.

Kevin walked in and patted her on the shoulder. "You get used to it after your first shift." He said.

"Somehow that's hard to believe." She muttered.

The pair of them sat in silence, watching the screen. Both the girls were asleep but it was clear that JJ was having nightmares, she writhed under the blanket and the corner just moved upwards a little, revealing a small bit of the flesh on her back. Both Kevin and Ashley grimaced, it was torn and bloody, it would obviously get infected if they weren't found soon.

Ashley slammed her hands down on the desk, causing Kevin to nearly jump out of his skin. "Do I bring anything to this team?" She suddenly asked.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Just answer me honestly, please." She pleaded.

"Anything? If I'm being honest, you aren't as, you don't bring the same that the others do." He paused.

"So I'm not needed here?" She asked quietly.

"Ashley, let me finish! You don't bring the same as the others do, you aren't the brawn like Derek, you aren't the brains like Reid, you don't have as much experience as Dave, Alex and Emily and you aren't Hotch, but you aren't useless. You bring fresh eyes to the team. Me, I can't be objective about this case because of Penelope, but you, you can be a lot more objective than the rest of us." He explained.

"That's what Dave said to me after we were shot at when Emily disappeared."

"And you managed to mind her." Kevin grinned.

"Not before she sustained enough injuries that she managed to pull off all of us thinking she was dead! Why does everyone keep putting so much faith in me?"

"Because the only person that doesn't believe you can do it… is you."

"Seriously? The only comment you could find was 'the only person that doesn't believe you can do it is you'" She laughed.

Both of them sat in silence for a few minutes before they decided to check the security cams. "Hey, Kevin, where's that camera for?" Ashley pointed to the static on the screen in the far right corner.

"The parking lot." He shrugged.

"Why's the camera down?"

"No idea. Battery might have died."

Both of them went quiet.

"Hey Hotch, where's Emily gone?" They could hear Reid saying from outside in the bullpen.

_Don't say the parking lot._ Ashley prayed.

"She just ran to pick up her phone from her car. Don't panic Reid. She'll be back from the parking lot any second now."

Ashley reacted faster than lightning. "Tell the others!" She told Kevin as she leapt up from her seat and ran out of Garcia's office. Pulling her gun out of her hip holster, she ran down the nearby staircase and down into the parking lot.

She couldn't see Emily, but she could see a car with a popped trunk. She scrambled towards it and she could see a man, standing over an unconscious Emily on the ground. "Step away and put your hands up!" she yelled.

The man was wearing a balaclava and black leather gloves. His head rocketed up, but she still couldn't tell who it was. She aimed her gun as she moved closer, the replicator or whoever it was stayed completely frozen for a solid five seconds before suddenly he sprang to life and raced to the car.

She fired at him at least five times before the car escaped the parking lot. The only disappointment was that the cars plates had been removed so that she couldn't record them. Once the car was out of sight she knelt down beside Emily. She was suddenly very glad that she had worn a simple pair of black skinny jeans, a simple white ruffled tank and her black denim jacket other than her usual suit, which would make it a lot more awkward to crouch down like she was.

"Emily? Come on, open your eyes." She said quietly. She quickly brushed her hair behind her ear again so that she could properly see. Emily's eyes fluttered open. "Welcome back Emily." She grinned.

"Thanks Ashley. Now help me up so we can go chase the rep-"

"You aren't in any state to go chasing a car Emily and if I left you here I would almost certainly get fired or taken myself." Ashley laughed.

"Fine. At least help me up before Morgan get's here."

"Now, that I can do." Ashley grinned as she stood up and pulled Emily to her feet. It was at that point that Hotch, Blake, Rossi, Morgan and Reid came into the parking lot, guns high and ready to take out anyone in their way.

"You're running a little late guys! Ashley and I have been here forever." Emily chuckled.

"Kevin will have to work on the whole 'letting the team know quickly' thing."

**Review! Review! Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

JJ couldn't sleep any longer. She was exhausted and could barely move, but she couldn't sleep. Her back felt like it had been lit up by a roaring flame. She groaned as she tried to move, it didn't work very well.

"Pen?" She groaned.

Penelope was by her side in seconds. "Hi my little sugar plum. What can I do for you?"

"Do we have anything? Water? Meds?" She asked quietly.

"He left some salve, in the corner over there. That might be some kind of medical salve."

"Go fetch it for me please. It can't do any harm to me now." JJ smiled a weak smile.

Penelope nodded and raced over to the corner and picked up the tub of salve, before she raced back. She unscrewed the top and dipped her fingers in the cooling salve.

"Gumdrop, this might sting."

"Pen, the amount of sting I'm already feeling means I probably won't feel any difference." JJ attempted to comfort her friend, but it didn't work very well.

Penelope reluctantly rubbed the salve over the red and bloody skin. Tears ran down her cheeks. JJ cried out in agony. Morgan cursed. Reid grimaced.

Out in the bullpen, Ashley helped Emily into her desk chair and Hotch found an ice pack for her head. "What happened?" Alex asked.

"I needed my, my phone from the car. I went out into the parking lot and then… and then nothing." Emily said slowly.

"Ashley? Anymore details?" Rossi asked.

"Kevin and I decided to check the security cams. The parking lot one was down, at first we thought it could be a technical problem, but then I heard Hotch say that Emily had just run down to the parking lot. I knew something was up so I told Kevin to get you guys and I went down to the parking lot." She paused.

At first I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but then I spotted the truck, it was a dark blue colour and it had a popped trunk. I went over there and I saw a six foot, white guy, I think, about to put Emily in his car, so I told him to freeze or I'd shoot. He froze for about five seconds before he suddenly ran to the car. I shot at him as he drove off, but I don't think any of them hit. I tried to look at the plates, but they were removed, or hidden. You guys know what happened next."

Everyone nodded. "So in short we're no closer now than we were before." Rossi groaned.

"That's not technically true." Ashley said.

"What do you mean? Sorry if I'm a little slow to catch on." Emily asked.

"Enlighten us Ashley." Hotch said.

"We know he has a particular interest with the women of this team that have been on the team longest. JJ was first on the team and so was Penelope. Then Emily gets targeted, that's no coincidence. He hasn't gone after you guys once. We also know who his next target will be."

Morgan stormed out of Penelope's office. Fury in his eyes. "No way Ashley! Just no way! I know what you're thinking and there's no way we'll let you do this!" He shouted.

"What if It's our only chance? What if we don't go through with this so JJ and Penelope get killed? This is our only chance. We know his next move now. We won't know it if we wait too long!"

Morgan was outraged to see both Blake and Rossi nodding slowly behind Ashley. "You cannot be serious! You can't let her do this! She'll get herself killed!"

"It's the job. Put the lives of others before myself. I need to do this! I have a chance to save both of them, to bring them both home! Derek, if it was you in my position you wouldn't listen to me, you'd go through with it anyway. Let me prove myself! Let me prove to this team and prove to myself that I can do this, that I can save the heart of this team!"

"She's not going to back down on this Morgan. If we don't help her go through with it safely she'll do it on her own." Alex interrupted.

"I'm the next target, I'm the one under the spotlight, I get to choose how we handle this."

"But-"

"I don't like this either Morgan, but she has a point. We finally have a moment ahead of him, ahead of someone that we've been behind for so long. I think if Ashley wants to, we should help her, not try and hide her away like a child and she needs the opportunity to prove to herself that she can do good work in this team." Hotch put in.

"I can't believe you're going along with this!"

"Just go back to your shift Morgan." Morgan did as he was told and turned to leave. "Whatever you do, do not let it slip to JJ and Penelope! We can't let the Replicator get wind of this!"

**Reviews Please! **


	9. Chapter 9

Ashley couldn't really believe that she actually had permission for this. They were all sat in the round table room, going over things they already knew, but that wasn't really much. There were two un-subs, one of them submissive partner, the other the aggressive boss. Theoretically the submissive thought that they were partners but the dominant, in his mind he was working alone, with a lackey to appear on the tapes so that he didn't need to show his face.

The dominant was a six foot white guy. The lackey was, as recently discovered, a, James Herring, it had taken facial recog a few days, but Kevin finally found him. They had an address for him, but it was abandoned. Ashley, Morgan, Rossi, Blake and Hotch had all gone, leaving Reid and Kevin on computer duty and Will running menial errands in the bullpen for them.

The house wasn't only abandoned; they would easily be able to stretch that vocabulary to derelict. It looked like nobody had been there in months. There was out of date milk in the fridge that stank the whole place out so much that some of the swat team emptied their guts in the trash on the front lawn. Mould coated nearly everything they saw, even though it stemmed from an unknown source.

Most likely Herring had left the house and gone to live in the primary crime scene where JJ and Penelope were being held when the replicator started his initial taunts. Kevin found out as much as he could about him, but there wasn't much, only the fact that he had applied for the BAU the same time JJ did, but JJ was hired and then he tried again the same time Ashley applied, but again he was passed over.

Straight after the house visit Hotch sent all of them home, everyone felt very green around the gills and he told them to just come back to work in a few hours. Morgan wasn't about to let Ashley go home, but she managed to talk him into going to the gym with her to practise fighting. Surprisingly she won.

So they were closer to the replicators' identity now. Not much closer, but they were closer all the same and once you have the identity it's so much easier to find the place. But everyone knew what their next option was.

They'd been spit balling ideas of how to keep Ashley safe doing this, but overall nothing seemed to fit. The replicator would obviously suspect that they would have a tracker on her somewhere. It had been quiet for a few minutes when Emily spoke up. "Studs."

"What? I don't think this is the time for earring shopping-"Morgan began, but Emily cut him off.

"Get studs with trackers in them! If they're small enough they won't be noticeable!"

The whole team nodded in agreement. Hotch left the room and came back five minutes later with a little purple box in his hand. He opened it and they all saw that it had two; very small earrings in, that easily could be mistaken as diamonds. "Erin gave me these once. She said that at some point we were bound to need them and she was right."

He handed the box to Ashley and she quickly put the earrings in. "This might actually work." Rossi mused.

"But who is the replicator?" Emily asked nobody in particular.

"That's the whole point of this. We need to know and we need to put him away for life." Morgan said.

The whole team nodded.

"Alright everyone. Dave, go relieve Reid. Everyone else get some rest. I don't care where; sleep in your cars or under your desks if you don't want to leave. I know for a fact none of you slept when I cut you loose this morning." Hotch ordered.

They all left the round table room, Hotch headed straight to his office. He sat at his desk with his head resting in his hands. "We'll send Ashley in there and she'll have back up and all of our team will make it out alive." He muttered to himself. "If another of our team members gets killed I don't know how the team will cope. The replicator will be caught and he will pay, I will make sure he pays."

He was completely unaware that JJ, Penelope and both the un-subs heard him.

**Reviews Please! I really enjoy hearing what you all think!**


	10. Chapter 10

"You tell them we know about the plan, you both die. Got it?"

JJ and Penelope both nodded, JJ was so delirious from pain that she probably didn't even know what the plan was. Penelope didn't want to put Ash in any more danger than she already was willing to by not warning her, but there was nothing she could do. If it was just her own life she might have risked it, but JJ had Will and Henry, both of them needed her.

Ashley would have to forgive her. JJ would have to forgive her for not helping Ashley. She wiped away her tears with a shaking hand as she wrapped JJ up in the blanket to try and shield her and her injuries from the cold of the basement.

"Why are you going after the women of the team?" She asked quietly.

He definitely heard her, but he didn't respond.

"Just tell us why!" She shouted, her voice cracking half way through the sentence as she leapt to her feet to face him. He didn't respond again. "Tell me why G-"He cut her off by hitting her hard across the face, her weak form stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the floor.

"Don't talk to me like that and you are not allowed to mention my name when THEY can hear us!" He roared.

"You've already kept us hostage for days! Tortured us! Threatened to kill us! What else can you possibly do?" She screamed. Tears racing down his cheeks.

"There's plenty more I can do Garcia. Trust me; I'll dump your body in front of Doctor Reid's apartment and JJ's in front of William Lamontagne's front door. But, I'm not done yet." He smirked through his hood and left them alone again, she didn't hear a lock click.

She went over to JJ. She was sat up in the blanket, awoken by the commotion. She tried to stand up, but Penelope stopped her. "Sugar plum, don't try and get up. I don't think you're ready." She said to her.

"No, Pen, let me try. Let me stand up."

Penelope nodded, but stood directly by her side, with her arms out ready to catch JJ if she stumbled. Surprisingly JJ easily managed to pull herself to her feet, which was a massive improvement from what she could only presume was the day before.

Both of them then realized that they hadn't heard any sounds from the computer screens throughout any of that, which was a bit of a shock. They glanced over and saw that Garcia's office was empty; nobody was there, until of course Reid stuck his head up from under the desk.

He looked very ill. He looked like he was about to throw up, or maybe he already had threw up and that's why he was under the desk. "The Replicator is…" He stuttered and trailed off. If possible more colour drained from his already pasty skin and he clumsily scrambled to his feet and out towards the bullpen. They could only hope he made it on time to stop Ashley from leaving.

He scrambled like a maniac straight out of the office and ran straight to the bullpen. "Hotch, Hotch! I know who the replicator is!" He shouted.

The whole team (including Will and Kevin) turned to look at him. All of them looked confused. Hotch moved closer to him. "Hotch; we can't go through with the plan! We need to keep Ashley protected-"He cut himself off, only just realizing that she wasn't in the bullpen.

"Hotch, where's Ashley?"

At that everyone sprang into gear. Kevin and Will went to the computers and Emily, Morgan, Rossi and Alex started putting their comms in. Hotch passed Reid his comm and vest. "She's just left." Was all he said. "Reid, who is the replicator?"

**Has anybody worked it out? Let me know! I'd just like to take this point to thank everybody who has reviewed this story and my other stories with their positive feedback! Keep them coming, they help me write faster! xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

Ashley was just in the parking lot to her building. She got out of the car, locked it and started walking towards the door. Her phone rang, so she searched her bag for it, but she missed the call. Less than two seconds later her phone went off again and this time she managed to answer it.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Ashley, where are you?" It was Dave.

"Just outside my apartment block, why?"

"Ash, get back in your car and lock the doors. We're on our way."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The replicator is-"Rossi was cut off when someone charged into Ashley from behind, causing her to drop her phone, cry out and fall onto the ground. "Faster Morgan!" He yelled. "We have two minutes before we've lost her!"

Ashley was vaguely aware of Rossi shouting down the phone at her and then yelling very close to the phone at Morgan to drive faster, but really she wasn't paying attention at all. The man that had knocked her down was 6'1 and muscled as hell. He was quite slow, so she estimated that he wasn't very young but he packed a mean punch.

She wriggled out from under him and reached for her gun, it wasn't there. Holy God. He must have known it was there and lifted it off her when he bowled her down. She had hesitated a second too long and he was on her again. Her mind raced like clockwork until she thought up the name of one of their suspects that would fit this.

She struck out with her foot at his knee. Score! He cried out and gave her another opportunity. She pulled herself back onto her feet and scrambled towards the door to her apartment building. If only she could get in she could lock it behind her, there was no way he would know the code to get inside. But she had a long way to run, with an angry homicidal, torturous, maniac chasing her.

Getting clear across the parking lot was easiest. She ran as fast as she could on the flat ground and then she had to tackle the steps. She ran up them two at a time, before she felt something, most likely a hand grab her foot. She crashed to the ground and only just managed to stick her arms out to catch herself.

It was at that point she knew she had lost, so she took a quick breath, flipped over onto her back and, remembering she was exactly in the line of the cameras on the building, she reached up and pulled the replicators mask off. The cameras had a picture of him now. She knew who he was now.

Using every last shred of adrenaline she had left she struck out at him again. He was prepared this time, dodged the blow and then, using a gun she hadn't even known he had, but she knew it wasn't her own; he hit her in the face.

Emily, Hotch and Reid were the first to arrive and Emily was the first out of the car, before Hotch had even started to come close to a stop. She could see Ashley's car in its spot, so she went straight to it. She saw her phone discarded on the floor, but didn't go near it. It was also painfully obvious that there had been a fight on the steps, there was blood all over them, but not enough that they should even start to consider that she was dead.

But it was also disappointingly clear that they hadn't been fast enough. She bent over and picked up the phone in her gloved hand. Rossi was still shouting. "Rossi, she's gone. They're not here." She said before she hung up, knowing that he would be getting there in less than five minutes.

Slowly she went over to the steps and went up until she got to where the blood spatter was. At first glance there was nothing out of the ordinary, but then she saw a glint coming out of some of the blood. She bent down to inspect it.

"Damn it." She hissed.

The glint was coming from sunlight, reflecting off of two small stud earrings that were covered in blood.

**I know I still didn't tell you the name of the replicator even though everyone else seems to know now. I still want to hear your theories and comments about the story and what you think is going to happen later on! xxx**


	12. Chapter 12

Reid came up just behind Emily, he followed her gaze and he spotted the studs in the pool of blood. He felt tears sting at his eyes as he couldn't tear his eyes away from the studs. They heard the screeching of tires as the other SUV arrived.

They heard three racing sets of footsteps coming their way, but then only two sets of footsteps actually arrived beside them, Morgan and Rossi, Alex must have waited back at the car with Hotch. "Damn it!" Rossi cursed, almost immediately turning away and storming back to the car, presumably to yell at Hotch about how they shouldn't have been so careless in the first place or something along those lines.

"When we catch him, I'm going to kill him." Morgan cursed.

"Join the queue. You kill him after Rossi, Alex and I have beat the hell out of him." Emily smirked.

"How did he know about the plan? He must have known that she was alone and he knew about the earring trackers."

"Do computers in the offices have webcams on them?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, but I'm almost certain that the computer in Hotch's office does. Why?" Morgan said.

"They hacked into Garcia's camera on her computer so they could see us in there. What would stop them from getting into any webcam that's probably half as protected? Nothing." She answered her own question.

"There's a security cam right up there. Maybe if we watch that it will give us some kind of idea as to… anything that could help Ashley." Reid said quietly.

They all nodded and swallowed, heading up the steps towards the security camera.

JJ and Penelope had had enough. Enough of sitting down and being quiet and obedient to try and get themselves out of more pain. Instead JJ pulled herself to her feet and, with Garcia on her heels, went over to the door. It took both of the girls to pull the door open, but it did in fact open. They were faced with a set of stairs, that they made slow work of, with JJ's adrenaline being the sole fuel for her she found the pain she was feeling.

She eventually sent Garcia ahead. Penelope raced up the stairs and peered round the corner, before disappearing from view entirely. She was gone for two minutes at the most and when she returned, she had a gleeful grin on her face.

"I know where we are!"

**Ok, I know this is short but I thought it summed up what I wanted to happen, so I didn't see sense in just prattling on and on. Give me the reviews! xxx**


	13. Chapter 13

"I know where we are! God JJ, I know where we are!" She whispered gleefully.

"Which is where Pen?"

"The first place the team should check when they find out who the replicator is!"

"We're not at the cabin?"

"We are. He must have done some downward developments, but this is definitely the cabin!"

"We should tell the team so they can be on their way."

"Yep." Penelope chirped as she ran past JJ and back into the room of their personal hell. Kevin was waiting for them behind his computer screen. "Kevin! I know where we are! We're at the cabin, tell the team so they can come find us before anything else happens." She said.

Kevin opened his mouth to say more, but JJ cut him off. "Pen, he's back."

Penelope's shoulders visibly sagged. "Just tell the team to hurry."

Kevin nodded and disappeared from view of the camera.

JJ and Penelope moved so that they could sit side by side as far away from the door as possible. They heard footsteps coming down, but he didn't come in. They could hear him talking, but he was definitely not talking to them.

JJ stayed where she was, sitting down in the corner of the room, but Penelope didn't. She shoved herself back onto her feet and slowly and quietly she went back over to the door. She opened it slightly and saw that the replicator was nowhere in sight.

"JJ we need to get out of here! He's not here!" She hissed.

JJ nodded. It took her a longer time to pull herself onto her feet this time, Penelope was worried, after all that they had gone through the pain was finally starting to get to her best friend and the timing could not get any worse, she needed to hold out until they got away, until the team found them and they were back home in Quantico. Probably in a nice hospital, piped full of a cocktail of nice drugs.

"Come on sugarplum." Garcia whispered as she lifted JJ's left arm up over her shoulders so that she could help her and take some of her weight off of her so that they could hopefully move faster. It took about five to get up the steps again and then they managed to clear the living room and leave the front door as quietly as possible.

The air outside of the cabin was cold and both of them had hardly any protection from it, with their clothes being ripped to very near shreds. One of the only good things was the fact that he hadn't hurt them in a little while, so most, if not all of their wounds were closed, which was a blessing. It would take them longer to die from hypothermia if it took the team a while to find them.

The pair walked as fast as they could until they managed to get beyond the tree line and into the forest. They were careful not to stray too far from the road, knowing that it would not be very good if they got lost.

They didn't manage to get very far before both of them could go no further because of exhaustion, dehydration and a number of other issues they were having to deal with. Collapsing at the foot of a tree both of them tried to remain as vigilant as possible. They could have been sat there hours, they could have been freezing to death and neither of them would have noticed.

JJ was vaguely aware of people approaching them, but her eyes were hazy and she couldn't be sure. It was only when she felt warm, comforting arms wrap around her shoulders that she knew her team had come for them and she allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness.

The SUVs had not even stopped when Morgan and Emily were out of them and scanning the nearby trees. Kevin had told them that JJ and Penelope were not in the room they had been stuck in so the only guess was that they were somewhere close, outside.

But that wasn't a good thing. Both Emily and Morgan were wearing thick coats and every time they breathed their breaths came out as steam, so that was a testament to how cold it actually was. The pair broke through the tree line and it didn't take Emily long to spot the two agents huddled under a nearby tree.

Morgan noticed them, not a second later and both of them dashed straight over to them. Emily already had her coat off as she put her arms around JJ and then covered her in her thick winter coat. Garcia was smiling and talking, so that was a good sign. "Hi Emily." JJ said quietly.

"Hey JJ, your husband's waiting for you. He'll meet us at the hospital." Emily told her.

JJ smiled and then her head slipped to the side and she was unconscious.

Emily's heart broke at what she heard Penelope say to Morgan next. "We escaped before he got Ashley right?"

Both Emily and Morgan grimaced and shared a glance.

**But where is Ashley? Are they ever going to actually find the replicator? Let me know what you think! xxx**


	14. Chapter 14

Two ambulances arrived shortly afterwards. None of the team knew whether to ride with JJ and Penelope to the hospital or continue the search for Ashley. In the time it had taken for the ambulances to arrive they had searched the entire cabin, only to discover that neither the replicator nor Ashley was there.

Hotch decided to address their predicament. "Rossi, Blake, Reid. You three stay with me and we'll search the surrounding area here. Emily, Morgan, you two ride with JJ and Penelope. Keep us posted." He ordered.

The whole team nodded. Emily and Morgan smiled and ran over to the two ambulances and climbed in just before the doors were closed and they drove off. Morgan held tightly onto Penelope's hand. They had barely been going for two minutes before she woke up.

Her eyes fluttered open and they immediately came to rest on Derek. "How's JJ?" She asked as she pulled her oxygen mask off. "No, baby girl, keep the mask on. JJ will be fine. She's in the other ambulance with Em."

"Oh, that's good." Her eyes started to drift shut. "Ashley didn't use herself as bait did she? We escaped before she needed to, right?"

Morgan stayed silent, but Penelope's eyes closed and she drifted into unconsciousness any way, so he didn't have to hurt her yet, she needed to do her own healing first. Morgan was relieved, it didn't seem as though there was anything majorly wrong with his baby girl. Aside from a few bruises and what he thought could be a bum ankle that appeared to be the extent of it.

It didn't take them long at all to arrive at the hospital. Morgan and Penelope's ambulance arrived first, followed shortly by Emily and JJ's. The gurneys with JJ and Penelope on disappeared inside the hospital in seconds, with Emily and Morgan running behind, until they could go no further and they had to stop at the desk to fill the hospital staff in on the situation regarding the pair of agents.

It didn't take too long for Kevin and Will to run into the hospital. Morgan and Emily stood up, making it very clear where they were. The pair of men came over and asked if they had heard any news, which they hadn't, but the doctors had impeccable timing and called for the family of Jennifer Jareau and Penelope Garcia.

Will and Morgan moved quickest, taking the fore front. "Jennifer and Penelope are both federal agents, we're their coworkers," He gestured to himself, Emily and Kevin.

"And Jennifer Jareau is my wife." Will said.

The doctor nodded, clearly a little bit intimidated by being surrounded by four very intimidating officers. "Agent Garcia," None of them bothered to correct the doctor, "is in good condition. She has very apparently been banged up, assortment of bruises and a couple of fractured ribs and a fractured ankle. She is also suffering from dehydration and extreme exhaustion. We'll need to keep her in over night at least." The doctor explained.

All four of them nodded.

"Agent Jareau is in a slightly more severe condition. She has a number of electrical burns on her arms and chest, she has several deep lacerations on her back, a sprained wrist and a whole lot of bruising. We've got both of them stabilized and set up in the same room for observation. Both are going to need physical therapy once they are in a better condition."

"When can we see them?" Emily asked.

"All four of you can go see them now, but they will most likely be either asleep or a bit loopy from the pain relief we've got them on. Come on, I'll show you where their room is."

They all thanked the doctor and followed him up to the room. Before they went in Emily quickly pulled her phone out and called Hotch. "They're going to need to be kept for observation, but they should be fine. They should heal up in time." She said. "Any news on Ashley?"

"They're in the forest somewhere. We're sure of that."

**JJ and Penelope = safe**

**Ashley = Unknown**

**Viewers = Review! xxx**


	15. Chapter 15

Ashley woke up with the biggest head ache of her life. Or at least that was the first thing her slow mind registered. Her eyes opened, but she couldn't see much of anything. The only light came from a dim bulb hanging just above her head.

The second thing she realized was the fact that she was a hundred percent not anywhere with JJ or Penelope. Well, she should have expected that in the very least, wasn't that what was bound to happen anyway?

The third thing her mind registered was arguably the most important thing of all and she was a little bit disappointed with herself when it took the replicator walking in, pulling along behind him a cart full of a selection of torture tools to actually register it. She was being held hostage, by the psychologically broken or unstable (depending on your choice of words), ultimately homicidal, dangerously revengeful and let's face it, the terrifying, replicator.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn't. She looked down and noticed that she was tied down with belts around her stomach, wrists, ankles and neck to a cold metal table. "What do you want from me?" She shouted, frustrated at how weak her own voice sounded.

She didn't get a response. That wasn't good. The replicator wasn't behind a camera. That was bad. He was wielding a knife. That wasn't exactly peachy either. There wasn't a camera in sight, so that might be a good sign, he might not want to kill her, or at least not yet.

"Where are Penelope and JJ?" She asked, more confident this time.

"Oh, they left. I think by now they'll be in the hospital resting." He said. She couldn't help the wave of relief that spread through her at that news. "But don't worry. The team will find you, you just might not be alive."

"You left the team years ago. Why do you suddenly want revenge now?" She knew she was making a bold move, but she had to try it anyway.

"Who says I ever actually left? Who is there to say that I wasn't always watching, waiting for a moment to strike?" He said.

Her next move probably meant she was bargaining her life. "I left the team too. I didn't stay with them."

"Why were you working with them again then?"

"I didn't want to, but I… they used to be like my family. Spencer Reid like my brother."

She could see in his eyes that she'd struck a cord, whether it was good or bad she was yet to find out. When he didn't say anything, she continued talking. "That's what I used to think, but then they betrayed me. I mean, I'm here right? They were perfectly fine sending me out alone when they knew you were hunting the women who were on the team."

"I think you're just bluffing to save yourself. I'm a profiler too Seaver. I was doing those tricks long before you were born."

He'd busted her.

Damn.

**Reviews!**


	16. Chapter 16

Will, Kevin, Morgan and Emily went into JJ and Penelope's hospital room with great trepidation and the tension was so heavy that none of them had the ability to actually stand straight. They went into the room and saw the two beds, less than five meters apart from each other.

JJ was closest to them, her bed being the one closest to the door and then Penelope's being the slightly further away bed by the window. Both looked exhausted and neither was awake. They looked a lot better, even in the few hours since they had ridden in in the ambulances with Emily and Derek.

Now, it appeared as though they had been completely scrubbed of all the filth and grime so now they were both clean it did wonders to make them look healthier, but the varying shades of red and black and blue stood out starkly from their pale complexions and blonde hair.

Will and Kevin were sat on the outside of the beds, with Kevin on the chair between the window and Penelope's bed and Will between the wall with the door on it and JJ's. Derek and Emily ended up standing awkwardly in between them both.

It wasn't long before Kevin saw Penelope moving. He was clutching her hand tightly and he felt her squeeze back. "Pen?" He asked.

"Kevin." Her voice was rough and scratchy, but it was there. Kevin felt a few tears run down his face and into his stubbly chin.

"You're awake." He said.

"You're not behind a computer screen and this bed isn't the floor. I'm glad you can state the obvious." All of them chuckled at Penelope's comment, even Will who was still holding JJ's still hand. Penelope's eyes fluttered open not too much later after that comment. "You all have fun without me?"

Nobody laughed, but Morgan spoke up. "Don't you ever leave again." He growled.

"I'll certainly try." She went quiet for a moment. "How is she?" She said, tilting her head ever so slightly in JJ's direction.

"She's not awake yet, but the doctors have stabilized her."

"That's good. She just needs to catch up on her beauty sleep."

"It's nice to see her having a peaceful sleep." Emily said.

Penelope nodded. "Ashley about? Or Boss-man? Reid, Rossi, Alex?"

She didn't miss everyone in the room swallowing. "What happened?" She asked, unable to stop her voice from shaking.

"He got Ashley. We haven't found them yet, but the others are all searching for her right now in the woods round the cabin." Derek told her, him being the first one to pluck up the courage to tell her after the momentary silence.

"How high on drugs are you right now?" Emily joked with Penelope when she spotted her face fall.

"Pretty high, can't feel a thing." Pen laughed.

There was another long silence before they heard a groan.

"Cher? JJ, are you coming back up to us?" Will asked, his voice quivering.

"Will?"

"That's right Cher. I'm here, I'm with you, you're safe."

"Safe?"

"That's right. You're stuck with us now and we're never letting you out of our sights again."

"I'm perfectly fine with that."

**Give me reviews! My ideas are starting to slow down a little, I need the motivation!**


	17. Chapter 17

It was about an hour later that Emily and Derek excused themselves from the hospital room and went to their SUV that Kevin and Will had drove to the hospital for them. Once they were sat in it, Derek in the drivers seat and Emily in the passengers, Emily pulled out her phone and called Hotch, having the phone on speaker.

"Hotch? Have you got any news on Ashley?"

"No, nothing yet. But we've all split up with the search and rescue to cover more ground. I've told them to send out an alert if they find anything, but there's nothing so far."

"Ok. Where do you want us to go?"

"We can't split up any further search and rescue groups and retain the efficiency. Call the others. Find out if they're anywhere you can easily find them." Hotch told them and then they heard the dial tone.

Emily called Reid first. He answered straight away. "What's up?" He asked, Derek couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Nothing, boy genius. Now, where are you?"

"Near the main road, why?"

"We're going to come meet you."

"Ok. Drive straight to the cabin, I'll meet you there."

"See you there."

They hung up on him.

By the time they got out into the forest with Reid and the search and rescue team he was with, their breaths were coming out as steam and the sun was rapidly descending in the sky. But nobody was willing to abandon the search. Even complete strangers to the team could sense the tension, the need to have all of this resolved, so nobody said anything about leaving.

There were a myriad of different sounds in the forest, but none of them were offering any kind of relief for them. There was the sound of a dozen voices calling out for Ashley. The sound of a dozen sets of footsteps on the dry ground, snapping twigs, crunching leaves beneath walking boots and the sound of chilled breaths of the search and rescue team members, all tiring out as the walking continued.

The searching continued.

They were taking a two minute break in a small clearing, everyone feeling deflated, checking their watches and discovering that it was well after ten p.m and they really should have gone back in to get some sleep, but nobody wanted to. Emily's phone interrupted the silence. She answered it and quickly put it on speaker and held it in the middle of herself, Morgan and Reid.

"Hotch?"

"You guys found anything?"

"No, not a sign. How about you?"

"No, nothing. I've just spoken to Rossi and Blake, neither have they. It's really getting late, the search and rescue guys really ought to be going home. I know none of us want them to…"

Reid zoned out. He found himself listening to every sound other than his bosses voice. He was frustrated, tired and cold. They had seen no sign of anybody other than the team they were meant to already be with, the forest was too large, they could very easily never find her.

But then, something cut through the silence of the night. Reid knew it anywhere, he recognized what that sound was anywhere.

A scream.

**Give me the reviews! xxx**


	18. Chapter 18

Reid leapt up to his feet effectively silencing everybody. "Hotch, be quiet." Emily hissed. Even though she was speaking to her boss, she didn't care enough to go for the pleasantries option, instead opting for the brief option. But even Hotch wasn't phased in the slightest by the lack of conduct and he silenced his own group as well, before he patched Rossi in on the call and also told them to be quiet as well.

They were silent for a few moments, before they all heard it. This time it was unmistakable. The scream was quiet, but not quiet as if it was distant, quiet as if the scream itself was weak, weak, painful, but close.

"We're on our way to your location." Hotch said as he hung up the phone.

Reid took up front position, his gun pointed straight ahead, as Emily and Morgan stood on either side of him and the search and rescue team fanned out behind them, covering more ground for just in case.

The screaming started again. Morgan grimaced, but Reid didn't. He allowed himself to block out exactly what was happening and focus on the where. It was a lot closer than what it was. Just ahead of them, maybe.

But the sound didn't sound on the same level as them, it sounded lower. But they weren't in a building, they weren't on a higher floor with somewhere to go underneath them. Unless… They were underground.

He kept listening, his pace quickening with every step. She was definitely close. His mind was racing with a mixture of excitement and sheer terror. They would be a whole team again. They would get Ashley back and their team would be happy again.

Unless they weren't. Unless they couldn't find her on time. Unless she was already broken and there was nothing they could do to put her back together again. He kept walking, his pace so quick that he was almost jogging, but not making any sound.

All of a sudden, he stopped abruptly, nearly causing Emily to walk right into him. "Reid?" She whispered.

"The ground density changed. We've found the way in. It must be around here, close." He hissed back.

"How do you know?"

"You can feel the change if you know what to look for." He shrugged. "We need to do this quickly and quietly, we can't have them hearing us. Not when we're this close."

**Reviews!**


	19. Chapter 19

Reid got the opening open just large enough for Emily and himself to be able to fit, they couldn't pull it any wider for Morgan, much to his frustration. "Hotch, Rossi and Blake will be here soon. Keep working on it Morgan." Emily said to him as she slipped in after Reid.

"Just be careful Prentiss!" He hissed after her.

Spencer and Emily found themselves standing in a rock tunnel. They stood side by side, guns held out in front of them, hardly daring to breathe too loudly for fear of shattering the eerie and ominous silence that had descended everywhere around them.

The screaming had stopped. That could either be a very good sign or an extremely bad one. Their feet clicked against the rock causing them to cringe with almost every step. They were in the darkness for a few minutes, feeling their way down the hall by resting their palms against the stone.

There was a light ahead of them. They shared a glance and Emily understood and moved to the other side of the hallway so both of them were hidden in the shadows at either side. They hadn't taken many more steps towards the light when they were hit with a foul smell. It was undeniably coppery. Blood.

They carried on going until they found themselves almost devoured by light. Somehow they were partially still hidden as they managed to spot the scene unfolding in front of them. Ashley was facing their way and her eyes were open, if not a tiny bit glassed over.

It was a good sign that she managed to recognize them because they saw the undeniable smile that spread across her lips before she turned her attention back to the replicator, who at that exact moment spotted them.

He wasn't facing them. He had the knife firmly in his hand and before either Emily or Spencer could react, without looking he threw it over his shoulder and it embedded itself in Reid's thigh. As he fell to the ground clutching his leg and Emily moved over to him the replicator managed to grab a gun and point it at Ashley before either could do anything to stop him.

He had sidestepped, he was using Ashley as a human shield and that meant that Emily could see her injuries, but she couldn't really tell where was hurt and where wasn't. She was just covered in blood, dry or otherwise.

"Kick your gun over here agent Prentiss." The replicator ordered.

She made no move.

"Kick it over here or little agent Seaver here dies."

She sighed and reluctantly slid her gun across the floor.

"Good, now move away from agent Reid."

She turned to look at Reid again. He met her gaze and nodded before he muttered "Keep him talking."

She moved away and looked at Ashley again, before she met the replicators gaze. "Why are you doing this? You haven't been part of our team in years. Why now?"

"Hostages don't have the privilege to ask all of these questions, Prentiss."

"Answer me this one question then." She said. "Why are you going after the women and not the men? I just can't seem to fathom out a reason for it. A reason for, why?"

**Now, this story is at a bit of a crossroads. Either I finish it in a few chapters, in a sense when this confrontation is over or I carry it on deeper into the recovery and general team stuff. What does everyting think?**


	20. Chapter 20

Alex and Dave were running through the forest to where Morgan was. They knew that they had a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it in. There were a lot of obstacles in their path and with it being dark they didn't do very well at avoiding them. The silence of the forest was constantly being disturbed by grunts of pain, or curses from Dave losing his footing again.

Alex almost immediately found herself taking the lead. She always made sure to slow down if she started to be unable to hear the rest of her group, but she was finding it easier to find suitable footing and not trip than the men were.

It wasn't long before she could see Hotch and his team not too far ahead of her, not quite running, but walking at quite a pace. She easily caught up and fell into step with her boss. "Hotch, do you know anymore of what's going on?" She asked.

"Morgan called. They found the way into where Ashley and the replicator are but they couldn't get the door open wide enough and only Reid and Prentiss to get in."

"They went in, without back-up? Without Morgan?"

"Yeah and he's about ready to get some C4 to blow the door open."

"Does he have any idea what's going on down there? Can he hear them at all?"

"He can hear them fine. The sound's travelling with the door being open. I don't know much but something's happened to Reid and Emily's disarmed. As far as I know Ashley hasn't said anything." He said to her.

"That isn't a good sign, is it?"

"No, it doesn't bode well for what we find when we do get in there."

"This is it isn't it?" She said.

"What do you mean Alex?"

"One way or another, after right now the replicator will be gone. All we have to do is decide how many of us he gets to take with us."

"I suppose you're right about that. But I don't plan on him taking any of this team."

"But we don't know. Everyone is getting themselves into false security with JJ and Penelope and if we find Ashley and Reid alive it will happen too. The replicator might have already taken them from us. They might not be who we knew them as before." She explained.

"None of us are going to let that happen. We've lost Strauss. We are not losing anyone else. Nobody else is leaving our team through anything other than their own choices."

They walked in silence for a few moments before Dave caught up to them. Panting, he said "Why are we walking?"

"We're getting close." Hotch said back.

"That means if we run they might hear us and the replicator might get spooked and kill Prentiss, Reid and Ashley." Alex finished.

"Wait, since when did he have Emily, Spencer and Ashley?"

"Since Emily, Spencer and Morgan found the door into where the replicator has Ashley and they could only open it wide enough for Spencer and Emily and not Morgan." Hotch said bluntly.

"This just gets better and better doesn't it?" Dave muttered.

It was a few moments later that Morgan came into sight. The three of them jogged over to meet him. He spoke first. "We need to open that door wider."

"How wide is it Morgan? Who can actually get in?" Hotch asked.

"Blake might be able to, but I don't think any of the three of us could." Morgan responded, indicating himself, Dave and Hotch as being unable to go in.

"Would it be possible to open the door further, from the inside?" Alex asked after a moment of silence.

"Probably," Morgan confirmed.

"Alex, think about this before you do anything. You're the next target-"

"I know that Dave, but it's the only option we have. Either I go in there and open the door from the inside or we wait until the M.E gets here to get Emily, Spencer and Ashley out of there in body bags!" she hissed.

Dave was silent.

"Look, I didn't mean it like that-"

Hotch stopped her. "It doesn't matter Alex. You're right. Either we let you risk your life to try and save them or all three come out in body bags."

**Reviews! ;)**


	21. Chapter 21

Alex checked her gun before Morgan led them over to the door. She took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself before she went forward and slid through the gap between the door and the surrounding forestry.

She only just fit through with her FBI vest on and once she was on the other side she was hit by a wave of a musty, coppery smell a bit like blood mixed with a room that hadn't been used in years. The door appeared to be about six inches thick and made of wood that had swelled in the damp whether to be bigger than the gap it was stuck in.

Internally, she sighed.

"You guys ready?" She asked when she stuck her head back out the door.

"Go for it." Hotch said bluntly.

She went back inside and prepared herself before she started to shove the door. It didn't budge. She felt a bit of the pressure lesson when the men on the team started to help and the door moved. It moved about half an inch, but it moved.

"Alex? We're going to send the search and rescue team into you. Well, the ones that can fit any way." She heard Rossi say, they all still had to keep their voices down as much as possible.

"Alright."

Five of the smallest search and rescue members, four of them women and one of them a very small man slipped through the gap to stand beside her. Again they started to push. It was slow, but the door moved another couple of inches.

They shoved again, another couple of inches.

But that was all they needed. One more push and the door flew open and it took everyone else on the other side of the door to stop it from whacking a nearby tree and making a whole load of noise that would announce their presence.

They all left the inside of the tunnel and went back out into the open. Alex returned to join her team. "That was a relatively painless process." Hotch said. "We need to get in there now that the door's open wide enough. Everyone remember that the replicator is armed, dangerous and will not hesitate to hurt us. This warning applies more to Morgan and myself, but Rossi, Blake, do not underestimate."

"Ok then. We can do this."

And with that the team headed to the door and in a single file line, of Hotch, Alex, Morgan, Rossi. They all held their guns high and once they were inside. "Morgan, get yourself to Prentiss and Reid as soon as you can. Dave, get to Ashley, but do not try to get to her if the replicator is within touching distance. Blake, I need you to help me do the talking." Hotch explained.

The whole team nodded and went forward and into the main room where Emily, Reid, Ashley and the replicator were. Not all of them would be making it back out again.

**Evil cliffhanger, I know. Read and give me your opinion on who you think is going to be the one (or ones) to die or if you don't think anyone will die. Let me know J xxx**


	22. Chapter 22

Emily was sitting on the floor, back to the near wall just to the left of the entrance. She was unarmed and the replicator had given her no chance to do anything. Reid was barely conscious, the blood flow from his leg was slow, it didn't appear to have hit anything major and somehow he had managed to move himself to just the right spot that he could sit, leaning against the wall and hold Ashley's hand in his own as the replicator paced around them.

She heard a light scraping sound. It seemed like she was the only one that heard it, thankfully. She strained her ears and could just about make out very quiet footsteps coming their way. She lifted her gaze from the floor and looked to Reid.

It took a few moments of constant staring for him to manage to spot that she was trying to meet his eyes. When he did, he looked confused and in pain. Quickly she moved her gaze in the direction of the door and then back to him.

Another few moments passed and she saw his eyes light up in understanding. She stayed perfectly still, but couldn't help the involuntary sigh of relief when she heard Hotch announce himself and the team and then the four appeared in the room within arms reach of where she was.

The team fanned out, with Morgan helping Emily up to her feet and standing beside her whereas Rossi edged to the other side of the room where he could be closer to Reid and Ashley and Alex and Hotch stood in the center of the room.

"Let them go." Hotch ordered. The replicator still had his back to him and made no move to release Ashley and Spencer, but nobody had the right angle for a shot as he was standing about ten centimeters away from Ashley and from any angle there was a likelihood that she'd be hit in a firefight. He even had a surgeons scalpel pressed to her throat.

"You aren't going to get out of this." Alex said gently. "Not unless you let them go."

"She's right. You must know that we won't let you get out of this with a beating heart if you don't let them go." Hotch agreed.

Alex then had an idea. If they could get him to open up maybe he would let his guard down and move just slightly further away from Ashley. "Why are you targeting the women on the team? If I recall correctly you never even met Ashley, so why is she on your list of targets?"

"you all think you're invincible." The replicator snapped. "You think nothing can touch you. You see cases every day that sees people getting killed and yet the infamous BAU team never gets hurt, no matter what rules you bend you never get punished. You no longer see each other as separate people with your weaknesses and strengths. You group think. it takes six of you to come up with one idea. You no longer understand who is vulnerable or who needs help, I mean look at how easy it was to grab JJ and Garcia. You let them go home to empty houses and then even when you knew we could see you through one web cam in Garcia's computer you didn't think to check any of the others. You let me hear all of your little plans and schemes to try and catch me."

"You didn't save my woman. You didn't save Sarah, you let her get killed by Frank because of the BAU invincibility force field. You allow anything you love to brush with death because of a fools case of naivety. Maybe next time, maybe if any of you make it out of here you won't let something as simple be over looked again."

Before any of them could react he turned the scalpel away from Ashley and plunged it into his left eye. There was a horrible squelch of the eye membrane being ripped through, but he didn't stop the plunging until there was yet another echoing sound and he dropped, dead.

Everyone stayed frozen for a moment in shock until Rossi ran over to Ashley and started releasing her from the binds, which prompted Morgan to run across the room to Reid. "How you doing kid?" he asked.

"Well, he had remarkable aim. I won't have a new scar."

Morgan chuckled. "Do you need me to help you stand up?"

Reid nodded.

Morgan hooked one of Reid's arms around his shoulders and pulled him onto his one good foot. Reid didn't let go of Ashley's hand and he met her gaze when he was standing up. She was covered in blood, but smiling. Dave had completely got the binds off her and only when he scooped her up into his arms did Reid drop her hand.

"Get them out of here. We'll deal with the scene." Hotch ordered.

With that Morgan and Dave disappeared out of the room with their injured teammates. Hotch turned back and inspected the scene, Alex was crouched over the body, but hadn't dared to touch him yet.

"He definitely dead?" He asked as he moved over to her.

"He's not breathing, that's for sure."

"Good. Emily, get out of here, you look like you're about to drop like a stone."

She nodded. "I'll go see whether the ambulances are here yet." She muttered.

"Go to the hospital Emily. You need to get checked out." Hotch ordered.

"What? He didn't even touch me!"

"Emily, just get yourself checked out, we all need it, none of us have slept more than a few hours through this whole thing."

She huffed but headed out anyway.

Alex took a deep breath and when Hotch turned back to face her and the body she grabbed the replicator by the shoulder and flipped him over. Hotch couldn't help but grimace. The cold, dead eyes of Jason Gideon stared back at him.

"Rossi stop!" Ashley suddenly shouted, her voice was quieter than she wanted it to be, but he got the message and stopped walking away from the door. "He spilled his guts and killed himself too quickly. He wouldn't tell me anything until the rest of the team were in the cave with him. He worked with the BAU, he must have known that if he died at least a couple of us would hang back a few minutes to process the scene. Almost as if we were gloating that he was dead, but he wouldn't just tell us his message and kill himself… What was it he said? The next BAU team, not next time for the BAU team…" She paused for a moment. "A bomb! A bomb with a dead mans switch that activates a few minutes after death! We need to get them out of there!" She shouted.

**I quite like how this chapter ends, even though I know a lot of you lovely readers will be cursing me for leaving you hanging like that! Haha, let me know what you think :)**


	23. Chapter 23

The group of four turned around to face the place. Emily came up to stand beside them, having left it only a couple of minutes before. "We need to warn them. Hotch and Blake are still in there!" As quick as a flash Morgan shifted Reid's weight onto Emily and ran back towards the door.

"Hotch! Blake! Get out of there, it's going to blow up!"

He saw the pair of them emerge from the door, but he didn't stop running their way. He was no more than twenty meters from them when he was knocked off his feet and thrown back in the direction he had run from, feeling debris and a high temperature batter him until he felt the ground beneath him and he was staring at the sky, until unconsciousness took him.

Four search and rescue members came over to Rossi and the others. Two of them taking Ashley and the other two taking Reid's weight between them as both Dave and Emily hurried over to the explosion.

The smell of burning hung in the air, like a weight on their shoulders. They came to Morgan first, but he appeared fine. There was no blood on him and everything seemed to be in order, except from a handful of burns from the flaming debris.

"Aaron!" Dave shouted.

"Alex!" Emily yelled.

They could see neither of their team members through the ash cloud that had emerged from the site of the explosion. The ground and anything alive on it, such as bushes, flowers, the lower meters of trees were blackened and burnt.

It was a couple of moments later that they heard a low murmur. It was quiet and they wouldn't have heard it had it not been for the painful silence that had descended around them. They ran towards it and found Hotch on the ground, he was bleeding from a few gashes, but none of them appeared to be from arteries and he didn't look to have any broken bones.

"Rossi, find Alex. I'll stay with Aaron." Emily told him.

Rossi nodded and continued searching. It didn't take long to spot her and it didn't take long to see what state she was in either. Absolutely covered in blood, it's irony stench going straight up his nose and staying there.

"Alex?" He asked quietly.

Her eyes opened.

"Where's all this blood coming from? Where does it hurt?"

She coughed and Dave tried to ignore the trail of blood he could see running down the side of her face from her mouth and onto the grass. "Everywhere." She spluttered between her labored breaths.

"Come on Alex, keep talking to me. The EMT's are going to be here soon, you just need to hold on for me."

"I can't" She coughed, "Dave, my husband…"

"Will meet you at the hospital, you will see him again Alex, do you hear me?"

"Dave, please. Tell him I'm sorry I didn't take that job with him and leave the team with him. Tell him, tell him that, that I… I died, as I lived… fighting criminals…" Her breathing was becoming shallower.

"No, Alex, you can tell him all that cheesy stuff yourself. Don't think like that, you're not going to die. We need to prove the replicator wrong, prove to him that he can't destroy us." Dave said, ignoring the tear that raced down his cheek.

He knew he needed to comfort her. He wrapped her up in his arms and rested her head on his lap, running his fingers through her hair. "Come on Alex, keep fighting for me. Stay awake. Don't fall asleep."

"I'm sorry." She said.

"What are you sorry for Alex? You don't have anything to apologize for."

"My first case, was the first case the replicator…"

"No, Alex, don't blame yourself for that." He paused. "You did great today Alex. Hero of the day, it's because of you that Ashley, Reid and Emily weren't still in there when the replicator killed himself and triggered this. You saved them. You saved three of our team and they haven't had a chance to thank you yet."

"Thank you." She murmured.

"Alex? Why are you thanking me?"

No response. Her breathing had stopped, she'd lost too much blood, coming from so many different places he couldn't stop the bleeding. He looked down at her face, her eyes were closed, her chest still. She was dead.

**Was it good? Was it too cheesy? I tried to counteract every cheesy thing that Blake said with Dave telling her to save it and tell her husband when they got to the hospital, but I'm still not sure. I would really like to hear what you all thought. xxx**


	24. Chapter 24

The team, or what was left of it, told the doctors that they would be in a patients room and not the waiting room. Rossi and Emily, joined Will and Kevin in Penelope and JJ's room. Everyone sat in almost complete silence until JJ had enough. "Tell us what happened, then." She ordered.

"Jayje…" Emily began.

"No, you don't get to come in here and just not say anything! You don't get to sit in silence for hours on end and not tell us what happened in that damn forest! Five of our team members aren't here and we don't have any idea what's going on! They're not just your team mates, they're ours too! We should know!" JJ snapped and then she paused. "I need to know."

Will opened his mouth to try and sooth JJ, but Rossi stopped him. "She's right. She… All of you, deserve to know what happened. We can't just not tell you and the longer we wait the harder it gets."

The room shuffled round a little. Will and Kevin freed up the chairs by the beds by Kevin sitting at the foot of Penelope's bed, clutching her hand in his own as Rossi sat in the chair he had just vacated. Penelope gave him a comforting look as he shifted uncomfortably.

JJ shuffled to the side of her bed to give Will some space to slide on beside her and wrap one arm round her shoulders and held her hand with the other, letting Emily sit on the other chair, meaning that neither her or Rossi needed to sit on the floor.

"What do you want? The story or the summary?" Emily asked.

"Summary first." Penelope said. "it's easier when you tell the story that way."

Emily nodded, but then glanced over to Rossi, who cleared his throat.

"We found Ashley, well, Emily, Reid and Morgan found Ashley but only Emily and Reid could actually get in there so Morgan waited outside for the rest of the team whilst they went in. Reid was stabbed in the leg with a scalpel-"

"Which the replicator threw clean across the room and managed to land it on his other scar from when he was shot in the leg that time." Emily added.

Rossi continued "The replicator spilled his guts and then killed himself. Morgan, Emily and myself helped get Ashley and Reid out of there whilst Alex and Hotch stayed to analyse the scene. It was Ashley that worked out the bomb and Morgan went charging back to get Alex and Hotch, but just as they were leaving it went off."

Penelope gasped.

Rossi continued. "Morgan should be fine and Hotch should heal, but Alex…" He trailed off.

"Alex is dead." Emily finished. "Rossi held her as she died."

Everyone sat in a stunned silence, until Penelope sat up straighter and reached her free hand over to hold Rossi's.

"This is never going to be over is it? We'll never get rid of him." She said quietly.

"He's dead Pen. He can't hurt us anymore." JJ said.

"But he's already done enough damage hasn't he? I mean, look at us, look at the BAU team. Even Kevin and Will. We all have scars, physical or mental. There's the two of us," Pen gestured to herself and JJ "Who were kidnapped and tortured and I don't doubt that we'll need some sort of physiotherapy, Ashley was taken and tortured and God knows what state she's in, Reid's going to need his cane back, none of us know about Hotch or Morgan except the fact that they're injured, Emily nearly got kidnapped and Ashley only just made it on time to save her, Rossi had Alex die in his arms and Kevin and Will had to watch most of all this from my office!"

It wasn't long after that the doctor came in and he didn't look happy.

**I keep leaving you hanging! Why isn't the doctor looking happy? You'll have to wait and see... Let me know what you think. xxx**


	25. Chapter 25

"Am I right in thinking you are all emergency contacts of Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid and Ashley Seaver?" The doctor said.

Rossi stood up, taking the lead for the rest of the team. "Yes we are."

"Are there any family members I could talk to first?"

"No, they're all out of state at the moment."

The doctor seemed a little unnerved, but nodded anyway. "As you all well know both agents Hotchner and Morgan were caught up in an explosion. It is apparent to me that agent Hotchner was closer to the blast sight and therefore received much more dangerous injuries. He had a few minor cuts and bruises from the blast and subsequent fall, but what we need to watch is the fact that he has three fractured ribs. We've wrapped them up, but he'll need to stay in for a few days so that we can be sure that they will heal on their own." The doctor stopped and glanced at all the faces of the agents to make sure they understood. They all did.

"The other two, agents Seaver and Reid are facing a different set of injuries. Agent Reid has a severe laceration on his leg that lost a lot of blood in his time before arriving at the hospital. He won't be able to walk properly for a few weeks, but he should be able to start physical therapy in a couple of days and he should regain full use of it."

"Agent Seaver has a myriad of problems. Various scrapes and bruises, what has us most worried is the threat of infection setting in because she wasn't brought into medical attention very hastily. I can imagine she will need physical therapy once her injuries are healed up. She has had to have one wrist casted also."

The doctor stopped talking and swallowed.

"What about agent Morgan? You mentioned him at the beginning, the second of the explosion victims who was further away from the blast site?" Emily asked.

The doctor remained quiet for a moment. "Agent Morgan, I have yet to receive an update on. I have been informed that he has yet to wake up."

"Yet to wake up?" Penelope repeated. "What's that meant to mean? He's Derek Morgan, he can't be in a coma…"

"I'm afraid we won't know any more until we get the results from his head c.t."

Dave found his voice at that stage. "Would it be possible to see any of them?"

"Yes, the three that aren't Agent Morgan should be awake now. Agent Hotchner is in the room to directly to your left and Agents Seaver and Reid the room after that. It isn't possible to see agent Morgan at this point." The doctor promptly excused himself.

They were all silent for a long moment before JJ finally spoke. "Emily, can you wheel me to see Ashley and Spence?"

"Of course." Emily said, a small smile gracing her face as she grabbed the wheel chair for her friend.

"Penelope, shall we go see Hotch?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, of course, we wouldn't want him waking up and not having anyone there because we're all having a party in the next room." She agreed.

Will and Kevin took a moment to think before they both excused themselves, saying that now the team was here they felt a little better about going home for a couple of hours of sleep, a shower and maybe just some unwinding from all the stress.

Hotch's room was awkward. He was sat up in his bed and when Rossi wheeled in Penelope he just nodded at them in recognition. The trio sat quietly until he finally spoke. "The doctor wouldn't tell me about how the rest of the team was. How are they?" He asked.

Rossi took one look at Penelope and decided that he needed to break the news to their team leader instead of her. "Seaver and Reid need to stay in, but they should heal up fine after a while and some physical therapy." He paused and Hotch nodded.

"How are Alex and Morgan? They must have got some bruises from the explosion."

Rossi swallowed, "Hotch, you got out in the best condition. Morgan, the doctors think… they think he's slipped into a coma." He cleared his throat, "and Alex is dead."

It was subtle, but both agents saw their boss's face fall just slightly at the news, but his barrier on his emotions went straight back up. "Has Alex's family been notified?" He asked.

Dave nodded. "I notified them myself."

"Derek's in a coma? Derek Morgan, a coma? He was furthest from the blast site, how did he end up in a coma and how did Alex end up dead? If anything it should have been me. I was three feet away from Alex and Morgan was yards away from us. How is he in a coma?" Hotch mumbled.

Neither said anything, but Penelope wheeled herself the short distance over to Hotch and slipped her hand into his. "Don't think like that; don't think about why you didn't die. Think about why you get to live. Think about Jack. You can't let yourself get overcome in this self-questioning. He needs his dad. Think about that. Think about how lucky you were."

**Awhh poor Hotch! Thoughts? xxx**


	26. Chapter 26

JJ and Emily went into Ashley and Spencer's room without a sound other than the swish of the door opening and closing. It appeared as though both of them were still out of it. Their hospital beds were practically beside each other, with only the smallest of gaps between them. Neither could stop themselves from smirking at the pair because, whether intentional or otherwise, their hands were joined together tightly.

JJ sighed contentedly and Emily crouched down behind her so they could talk quietly. "Didn't you say that Reid held her hand while the three of you were hostages?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, he did." Emily exhaled a chuckle. "You think they'd make a good couple?"

"Maybe." JJ shrugged, "With all that's happened this year, that whole thing with Maeve I'm not sure whether he's just too vulnerable at the moment."

"Did you just call Reid vulnerable?"

"Not in that completely pathetic sense like I'm sure that sounded but I just don't want him getting hurt, not again. I can't let another thing happen to him, everything bad seems to happen to him."

"Oh JJ, he'll be fine."

"I know, it can't stop me from worrying about him though. I mean look at him, he just looks so young lying in that bed."

"He does doesn't he." Emily sighed.

"You talking about me?" The quiet reply came from Spencer, who was slowly coming round and trying to sit up.

Emily raced over to his side, "Easy Spencer. You're high on pain meds, you'll be sore." She said as she helped him up into a sitting position, he still didn't let go of Ashley's limp hand. It seemed as though he didn't notice it, but then he noticed Emily's eyes lingering on their joined hands. He went a little red in the face, but still didn't let go, instead he gave her hand a little squeeze.

"How you feeling Spence?" JJ asked as she slowly wheeled herself closer.

"Aching. A little bit high. I can imagine this leg of mine is going to hurt a lot in the morning when I go off the pain meds." He chuckled. "How's Hotch, Morgan and Alex? I take it Penelope's visiting them?" He asked.

Emily swallowed and Reid didn't miss it. "What is it? What happened?" He asked, his voice going up a little in pitch out of worry.

Emily paused for a moment before she worked up the courage to tell him. "Hotch is fine. He's in the next room, nothing too severe. A few cuts and bruises, I think he cracked a rib." She shrugged. "His hard head saved him."

Spencer let out a half chuckle before he saw the look on Emily's face and went back to being solemn.

"Morgan is alive. He's alive…" Emily faltered.

"But?" He prompted.

"But he, the doctors… they say he's in a coma. And Alex, she's dead."

They heard a gasp from behind them. Emily whipped round to see Ashley's eyes open and she was looking at them. "Ashley? Ashley honey are you alright?" Emily asked as she moved away from Reid by less than a step.

"It hurts, but it's better than it was." She groaned.

"Well, we'll keep you doped up on pain medication for a while so you can heal and then you get to do physical therapy!" Emily feigned enthusiasm. "We can probably manage to get you three and Penelope and Hotch all in the same class though." She said to the three of them. "I'm the only person in this room not in a hospital gown aren't I?"

All four laughed.

"Since when was I, Emily Prentiss, the careful one who successfully doesn't get hurt?"

**If you read between the lines there is Seaver/Reid, but nothing too overt for those who aren't a fan of it. It could be read either way, brother and sister or something more... Tell me what you think xxx**


	27. Chapter 27

Alex Blake's funeral was held a week later. It was the day after JJ, Penelope, Ashley, Spencer and Hotch had been released from hospital. There was no change with Derek's condition. None of them had been allowed to go home to an empty house, JJ had been able to go home to Will and Henry, as Hotch had to Jack and Beth. Kevin took it upon himself to stay in Penelope's apartment with her, Rossi hadn't given Reid a choice, he'd invaded his apartment taking everything he thought the boy genius would need while he stayed with him and didn't allow him to go to his apartment at all and instead went straight to Rossi's and Ashley was staying at Emily's.

They had all had some physical therapy to strengthen them, which meant Hotch was pretty much walking normally, Penelope was walking, but just barely and couldn't walk without clinging onto Kevin, as was JJ, which had caused a little issue with taking care of Henry, but they'd sorted it out after a few hours. Reid was back on crutches as he still couldn't put any weight on his bad leg and for long journeys out Ashley was in a wheel chair because of her weak arms and legs from the scratches. She had a cane for walking around the house though.

The funeral was quiet. Blake's husband and a few other family members that the team didn't recognize, along with a few of her old colleagues were there, as were the team, but it wasn't a very grand affair. Placing roses on her coffin had been hard. The team went up as a group instead of all separately and everyone was crying, some more subtly that others.

After the funeral the team all decided as a group that they wouldn't hold a memorial dinner until everything was sorted with the entire team. Until all of them could hide their own injuries and just remember the two great women they'd lost. That included waiting until Morgan was out of hospital and until Reid and Ashley could walk without help, other than maybe a cane depending on how soon it was that Morgan woke.

After the funeral Hotch and JJ went home to their families, but Penelope, Emily, Kevin and Ashley went back to Rossi's with him and Reid. They put a movie on in the back ground, but nobody paid any attention to it. Everyone sat in practically silence, everyone finally feeling the emotions wash over them.

Their section chief, who had worked with them for years, was dead. The newest member of their team that had been a great friend to the team and helped them solve a lot of complicated cases, was dead. Derek Morgan. A great friend, who had been with them all for years, shared a unique bond with Penelope, who had never wavered in his ability to pull through life threatening situations, was in a coma.

Reid sat beside Ashley on the sofa, With Emily on her other side. Reid could see tears escaping her eyes so he wrapped her arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer so that her head was resting on his chest. Shockingly she didn't even try to pull away like he thought she would to try and show them all that she was strong, instead she stayed there. He kissed her hair and rested his chin on her head. "Everything will get better. You'll see. Everyone will heal in time." He whispered to her.

He wasn't sure whether he was saying that to appease her, or himself. After what had happened with Maeve, he never thought he'd be able to heal, yet here he was a couple of months later, his loss now feeling like a distant memory that happened years ago. The end to the replicators tale, had somehow made him feel better.

It was an unexplainable emotion, to know that something so dire, so grave, that had cost two good people their lives and put one of his best friends in a coma had made him feel better, but it had. He no longer felt lost, like he had lost his direction since he failed to save Maeve. He felt better, knew he belonged in the BAU.

The whole team had been targeted and he felt good that they had been able to save JJ, Penelope, Ashley, they'd been able to save Hotch and Emily and Rossi and they'd be able to get through whatever was left in front of them together. As the team they had always been.

**Let me know what you all think! xxx**


	28. Chapter 28

It had been thirty days since the funeral. Thirty eight since they were rescued and the explosion killed Agent Blake. Forty seven days since JJ and Penelope were first taken. What felt like a lifetime since the replicator first started stalking the team. Derek Morgan was yet to wake up.

The first week after the funeral the whole team had gone to see him day in and day out, but as the days went by and the harsh reality that none of the team had deemed possible was coming more and more likely, they stopped coming in such big groups. Hotch and Rossi would visit on alternate mornings on their way into the office, with everyone being back at work a week, only three of them cleared for fieldwork.

Penelope and Spencer would stop by everyday after work and stay until visiting hours ended, which was usually only twenty minutes after they arrived, JJ and Emily struggled to find time to see him. JJ stopped by when she could, but it was usually only once or twice a week. Emily struggled to go and see her partner lying motionless in the hospital bed. She visited on the weekends, but never stayed for long.

Ashley struggled to come see him. She was walking with a cane, unlike Reid who was still on crutches, and once a week she needed her mandatory physical therapy, so she would sit with Morgan for possibly an hour or so before and after it.

She spoke to him as much as she could. At first she told him that he needed to wake up and come back to them, but after the first week she gave up on that tactic and instead just started talking. She told him about every case they had, what his involvement would have been if he'd been there and she told him about how the hunt for a new section chief was coming along.

As much as she could she told him about the team's recovery. About how Blake's picture had been added to the fallen agents wall or how Penelope's office was lined with photographs of the whole team together or how everyone was ready to beat Spencer round the head with his crutches, especially when they had a late night and every time he left his desk the click of his crutches on the carpet, or the stairs, would echo through the whole room, giving the tired agents splitting headaches.

She told him how she would hopefully be getting rid of her cane in a couple of weeks and how Reid would probably be upgraded to a cane by Monday. She, somehow, was the most hopeful out of the whole team, but even she was starting to lose hope. After a week of no change at all in his condition and he still hadn't woken up she knew that eventually they'd need to consider turning off his life support machine.

Holding his hand in hers was a small comfort. They hadn't been that close, but he was like her family, as was the rest of the team and she liked to entertain herself with the thought that he might have some sensation, that he might be able to feel her holding his hand.

The beep of his heart monitor lulled her into a sense of calm, her muscles aching from that particular days physical therapy, until she found her eyes drooping to a point where she was almost asleep in the hospital chair.

She rested her head on the side of his bed and felt sleep beckoning her, but then she felt a sensation in her hand that felt almost as if someone was squeezing her hand. Her head shot up so fast that she felt herself go dizzy for a moment. She heard a faint chuckling and she whipped around, but there was nobody behind her.

Hesitantly she turned back round and met Derek's gaze. She did a double take, he was awake. Instantly she pressed the call button for a nurse. "Derek?" She asked quietly.

He tried to talk but nothing would come out.

"Derek, you need to wait until the nurse takes the ventilator out. Ok? Blink twice for yes, once for no." She said.

He blinked twice.

It took less than thirty seconds for the nurse to take out the ventilator and tell Ashley that a doctor would be along shortly. Almost as soon as it was out Morgan wanted to talk.

"How long has it been since the explosion?" He asked quietly.

"Thirty eight days." She answered carefully.

"All those things you told me while I was out… was it all true? Is Blake gone?"

She nodded. "Rossi held her and she died in his arms, but I think it was painless. I think she just went to sleep. Do you want me to call the rest of the team?"

"No. Wait till the doctors are finished, no point having them all here whilst I'm being checked out and you're the only one who the doctors will probably let in." He chuckled.

"Why would I be the only one they let in?"

"You've been here the most." He shrugged, it was a bit of a lame shrug, but still a shrug.

"How do you know? You've been as good as asleep!"

"I kept kind of zoning in and hearing you talking. I heard Penelope and the others, but you seemed to always be telling me things whereas everyone else was telling me that I needed to wake up and all that-"

"They didn't know how to deal with it. They were telling you what they wanted." She cut off.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now. I'm back."

**Awhh! Yay Morgan's back! What do you all think? xxx**


	29. Chapter 29

"You ready for me to call the team now?" Morgan's exam from the doctor had ended little under an hour ago, yet he was still coming up with excuses as to why she should put it off.

"Visiting hours will be over in half an hour there's no point calling them now, not when they, and you might I add, will have to leave in half an hour."

She sighed. "If you think I'm going to leave you here alone after you've been in a coma for over a month. I'll get the nurses to set me up a cot for the night. Morgan, why don't you want the team to come? I've been here hours and you're fine with me, don't you want to see Penelope? Or your partner, Prentiss? Why is it that I worked with you a year and yet you don't want anyone who's worked with you six, seven years to come?"

He was silent.

"Derek! You need to tell me! I don't understand why you're fine with me being here and not anybody else who you clearly prefer being in the company of-"

"And there it is." He interrupted.

She looked at him with a blank gaze. "There what is?"

"You have this complex about nobody wanting you around. You believe that you don't have a place with us anymore and you never call us up on it do you? You never directly say that we're forgetting about you. You don't assume anything and you don't believe that you have a right to know things that I might not want to tell you and you don't push."

She tilted her head to the side in confusion "and the rest of the team do?"

"Not that they push exactly, but they expect me to be an open book and tell them how I'm feeling or tell them that I know exactly when I'm coming back into the office. You don't." He shrugged.

It was at that point that a pair of nurses came in carrying a sofa in between them. They set it down between Morgan's hospital bed and the door. She thanked them politely before they left and Ashley took the spare pillow and blanket out from underneath Morgan's bed and laid them out on the sofa.

She pulled her hair out of her blond ponytail and let it fall around her shoulders as she shifted until the blanket was tightly encasing her and she had her head comfortably wedged on the pillow. She opened her mouth to say goodnight to Morgan, but he was already asleep.

In the morning she would call the team with or without his approval. She didn't know how long he planned on keeping the rest of them in the dark, but she wouldn't allow it to go on, but either way she had a feeling that she'd not get out of this one without having been yelled at, at least twice.

She sighed and slowly drifted off to sleep, the regular beep of Derek's heart monitor lulling her into a gentle slumber.

**The rest of the team will hopefully be back next chapter, but let me know what you all think! xxx**


	30. Chapter 30

She was awoken by a heinous shrieking and then being catapulted off of the sofa and landing awkwardly on the hard floor. It took everything she had not to cry out in pain at the action that she knew would cause her to need an extra session of physical therapy just because of that jolt.

She opened her eyes and was assaulted by the sight of Penelope Garcia right in her face. She held back a myriad of different responses to the situation and instead just settled on a blank stare. At that point she was on her back, propped up by her elbows behind her and her feet awkwardly in front of her, with her knees in the air.

Penelope noticed and got even further into her personal space, using both hands to shove her by the shoulders so that she was flat on her back on the floor of the hospital room. Her head hit the ground with a thud and it sent her vision spinning for a moment.

Before she knew what was happening Penelope had her hand round her throat. "What are you doing?" She asked the seemingly crazy analyst calmly. She hadn't put any pressure on her throat at least.

"I got a call from the hospital this morning." Penelope growled. "And they tell me that Derek Morgan woke up from his coma yesterday and they told me that more than one person was allowed in his room and to tell the rest of the team. Care to explain?"

She attempted a shrug that didn't work in her position. "He woke up while I was visiting him yesterday after my physical therapy session and visiting hours were pretty much over, so there was no point calling because you'd all have arrived just to have to leave again."

Morgan was just waking up in his hospital bed, both women could see him starting to fidget a little in his sleep. "What gave YOU the right to decide? What gave you the right to stay in his room overnight to keep him company? What gives you the right to anything to do with any of us? You aren't even a proper part of this team! You are nothing but a dead weight!" Penelope was shouting and then she stood up and went over to Morgan's side and started cooing over him, asking him if he needed anything.

Ashley took a moment of steadying herself lying on the floor before she reached over and managed to wrap her hand around her cane, pulling it to herself and then using it as leverage to help her stand up. She could feel eyes on her, felt like they were closing in on her, so as fast as she could she left the hospital room. Walking hurt, but when she saw the rest of the team standing in the doorway, knowing they had heard and probably seen the whole exchange, she sped up and went down the hallway until she got to the elevator.

She knew one of them would follow her, she was only surprised that it was Rossi who only just made it into the elevator before the doors closed. "Why are you following me?" She asked, her voice pitifully shaky.

"Well, JJ, Reid and Emily wanted to but I moved quickest." He shrugged. "Kiddo, what's the real reason you didn't call the team when Morgan woke up?" He asked.

"He asked me not to." Was all she said.

He didn't press for her to say more.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"E.R. I need to get my leg checked out. That knock from the sofa really set me back in my pain threshold." She tried to play it off but she saw Rossi's expression darken.

"Penelope shoved you off the couch when she knew you were injured?"

"She was just angry I guess, that I was there when Morgan woke up and she wasn't. She was angry that I've been in the team the smallest amount of time yet I managed to get Derek to wake up."

"It probably didn't help much that you were key in catching the replicator either, kiddo."

"I didn't do much to stop the replicator. I got myself captured and injured and Reid got hurt because of me and Blake…"

"None of that was your fault. You were just a bit more incentive for us to work even harder. Everyone knew the risks."

She stayed silent.

"Ashley, you get to say that you were there when Morgan woke up. Nobody else can say that. Only you. You know that you are a part of this team and that's all that matters."

**Thoughts?**


	31. Chapter 31

It was nearly three months later that the whole team was back at work. With Hotch acting as section chief while interviews were going on for a more permanent replacement. They hadn't solved any cases yet but everyone had already ironed out how the team would work. Morgan, who was eager to be a part of the team fully again, would cover most of Hotch's duties while he was stuck in the offices back in Quantico so that he could be easily reachable while he was acting section chief.

The other five field agents just had to retain their old jobs. Emily would go back to being Morgan's partner and JJ would work mainly as Rossi's partner and Ashley and Reid would stick together. It was just after Emily had sat at her desk, running ten minutes late, that Hotch opened the first case file on the pile beside his desk.

The brown paper file felt foreign in his hands after so long not handling any major cases as a separate team and he had to pause for a moment to prepare himself for what horrors would most likely face him inside.

He skimmed the first few pages that were covered in signature agent scribble, not much of it he could make out as he flicked through, until he came to the crime scene photographs. There appeared to be four bodies. Mixed race, gender, age. It appeared to have no pattern at all and the M.O was also different for each body so he wasn't sure how they were connected.

It wasn't until he turned to the next sheet of crime scene photos that he knew why the case was sent straight to him. He slammed the folder down, closed on his desk and put his head in his hands. He reached over his desk until he got to the phone and pressed the number in for Garcia. When he pulled his hand back it was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

He used his steadier hand to force that one down onto the desk. The phone rang once before Garcia picked it up. "Yes sir?" She asked.

"Garcia," He cleared his throat to strengthen his voice before it cracked like he felt was coming. "We've got a case. Come up to the round table room ASAP."

"Yes boss man." She hung up.

He forced himself to stand up from his desk and step out into the bullpen. His team all turned to look at him straight away and they saw the grim look on his face. All of them stood straight up, not even bothering to tuck their chairs back under their desks and moved quickly to the round table room.

Hotch moved much slower, waiting till Garcia was with him and then both of them went into the round table room. He scanned the crime scene photos in to show up on the screen behind him, but he didn't put them up quite yet. He didn't even hand out the rest of the teams copies of the case file.

They all looked at him a little strangely, but didn't question it. "I want everyone to remain objective. I don't want any of you losing control and starting to break things. I want you all to be able and ready to keep your composure and not take this case personally, not yet." He told them.

Everyone looked at him strangely again, but they didn't offer any objection to what he was saying. "Ok, so we have three bodies. No apparent connection has been discovered and there's a different M.O for each body. They are all of different age, race, gender, height, everything. No detectives could make a connection with anything other than this." He said, pausing to have the pictures come up on the screen behind it.

Each of the four pictures was of the four different bodies laid at different angles, but what they were supposed to be seeing was chillingly clear. On each of the bodies, at the angle they were now viewing a few letters were written.

When you read them in chronological order, the words from the first body, then the second, then the third and then the fourth, you could clearly read what the intended message was.

_ZUGZWANG_

**What does everyone think? You didn't think everything was just going to tie itself off did you? xxx**


	32. Chapter 32

Everyone sat in a stunned silence for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few minutes. Nobody knew how to react and Hotch knew that his team would crumble, they would all shed a tear, or break something or just run away. Penelope moved first, running out of the round table room before anyone else could say anything.

Morgan muttered a few curses and followed her out. JJ went next, phone clutched tightly in her rapidly whitening knuckles and looking like she was going to vomit all over the round table room carpet. Emily wasn't far behind her, not looking altogether that well either.

There was another moment of an awkward indecision in the air, before all the colour suddenly drained out of Rossi's face like someone had pulled a plug out of him. All his features took on a very distinctive pallid, green hue. As quick as a flash he was up, his chair flying out a meter or two behind him and then he disappeared out of the room.

Only Reid and Ashley remained seated at the table, both of them looked a little freaked out and perturbed, but neither of them made a move to even stand up from the seats. Hotch tilted his head slightly at them and they looked back and forth between each other.

Ashley had a little smirk on her face. "What is it Seaver?" Hotch asked her, curious to see why she looked pleased.

"Gide… The replicator had an accomplice didn't he? The one who was in front of the camera when we saw someone in with JJ and Penelope? We didn't ever I.D him." She said.

"No, we didn't. The case was closed by the time we all came back from mandatory rest. The team that took the case said that they couldn't I.D him, the camera wasn't focused enough."

"So…" She prompted.

"So what would stop him from taking over the replicators mission!" Reid finished, a grin spreading out across his face triumphantly.

"He wasn't the dominant personality. I'm not sure he'd be capable to run a mission like this on his own."

"Without the replicator he might have adapted to fit the situation." Ashley pointed out.

"Give it an hour." Hotch told them. "Reid, when the hour's gone go and get Garcia on trying to get some kind of I.D on the accomplice. Ashley, you tell the rest of the team. Get them going through old case files, see if they can find anyone that fits his general profile and appearance."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm still engaged with the interviews for section chief replacement. The sooner we find one the sooner our whole team can get on, whatever this is."

"What should we do for an hour?" Spencer asked.

"Just go relax somewhere. Take some deep breaths. It might help everything sink in."

"Help what sink in? We've gone through all this before, we just had a three month cool down period in between."

**And here we go again! **


	33. Chapter 33

Oddly enough the next twenty four hours resembled the first twenty four hours when the case first spiked so much that it was clear whoever was after them had clearly studied the case and yet hardly any of the details had been released in any way shape or form to anything other than the brown file that was tucked away in archives or on the computer system, buried deep within encryptions and security measures.

Hotch had sent all of the team to go home and pack the things they would need for the safe house which the whole team would be moved into. Nobody had really wanted to have someone accompany them, so they all went their separate ways intent on having maybe just an hour of time where they didn't have a member of their team with them, for it may be their last time alone for some time.

JJ had to pack her own things while ushering Will to hurry up packing up his and Henry's things and then catch their plane to stay somewhere out of state for a while and Hotch had to do the same to Jack and Beth. Neither family was very pleased about having to be split up again and then Penelope went back to her apartment she shared with Kevin.

She told him to go stay with his parents out of state until everything was safe again. To get him to actually leave was almost impossible. What she had said was a low blow and both of them knew it, but he understood why. She had told him that if he was anywhere near Quantico or anywhere near she was she would be forced to forget about her own personal safety and just worry about his. That got him to leave.

The rest of the team went back to empty places, filled with stuff that used to make up who they were. They couldn't take a lot of it with them. It was a daunting decision, they had no idea when they'd be back and they had no idea how much they would have to through before they could come back.

Five of them had to do this. Morgan, Emily, Rossi, Reid and Ashley. Five of them filled a few bags up with essential items and said goodbye to their place. Only four of them actually made it out of their front doors.

Spencer pulled out his phone and wedged it between his shoulder and ear as he dialed Ashley's number. She picked up on the second ring. "Hey Spencer. What's up?"

"Nothing, it's just, this is how it all started last time, you know? We'd all just gone home, ready to get a few hours rest and JJ called me and the replicator got her-" He stopped abruptly as he realized what he'd just said.

"Spencer. You just described exactly what you've just done." Ashley said slowly. "Tell me you're not in the doorway of your house."

No response.

"Spencer? Come on Reid talk to me." She paused. "Please God, talk to me."

"I'm still here Ash. I just, I think there's someone at my door."

"Reid, I'm two minutes away from your place. Don't answer the door, you don't know who it could be…"

He answered the door against both of their better judgment.

"Who's at the door Reid?"

No response.

"Reid, I'm on my way up to your apartment. Come on, tell me I'm being crazy, tell me I'm being paranoid. Tell me you're safe. Just please God tell me you're not dead."

No response.

**Oh God. What's happened to Reid? xxx**


	34. Chapter 34

Ashley ran the entire way up the apartment block steps, not pausing for a moment even though she could feel herself needing to take a breath. She got to his apartment door, gun in hand, raised in front of her and she cursed under her breath when she saw the door ajar. Protocol stated that she should wait for the rest of the team to be on the scene before she tried anything, but she had already sent out the distress signal on her phone and with any luck they'd be on the scene in a matter of minutes, but that might not be enough. Reid could be just beyond the door, bleeding to death on his living room floor.

That mental image was all it took for her to go to his door and shove it further open, before taking a few steps inside. Nothing seemed dramatically out of place, which was peculiar. She went through the kitchen until she came to the living room.

She saw Reid, unconscious in the middle of the living room floor and made a move to run to him. She didn't even notice the man behind the door, not until she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and she fell to the ground.

Morgan, Emily, JJ, Hotch and Rossi arrived on the scene less than five minutes later. Both Ashley's and Reid's cars were in the parking lot before them. Morgan and Emily were the quickest to move. They were out of their cars and running up the stairs towards the apartment.

They cleared the stairs at two, or three for Morgan, at a time. When they got to Reid's door they found it already open. They went in side by side, guns drawn. They considered shouting out to Ashley and Spencer but they decided against it, in case whoever had gotten their first had them hostage and got spooked.

The kitchen had not even a hair out of how they'd expect Spencer Reid's kitchen to be. Rossi and JJ were right behind them as the four agents moved through the living room door. Their reactions were instantaneous. While Rossi and JJ continued to scour the room and the rest of the apartment, Morgan and Emily ran to their fallen colleagues.

Ashley was closest to the door and Emily grabbed her, pulling her up so she was no longer face down on the carpet and checking her pulse as she went. It was strong, so Ashley was only unconscious. There was dried blood on the back of her head, but it was dried, only dripping slightly at that point. The only thing was the fact that blood was slowly oozing out of her nose. She must have been unconscious before she hit the ground, so the instinct to catch herself mustn't have kicked in.

"How's Reid?" She called over to Morgan.

"I think he's fine. Looks a little knocked around and he'll probably hurt a lot in the morning but the pretty boy should be coming back to us. Ashley?"

"She's fine. I think whoever attacked Reid must have come up behind her and struck her in the back of her head and knocked her out, she was unconscious straight away and she hit her head on the ground when she fell again."

"There's nobody here." JJ said as she came back in and went over to Emily and Ashley, whilst Rossi went to Reid and Morgan.

"What do we think happened?" Rossi asked.

Almost in response to his question Ashley groaned and her eyes fluttered open. Almost instantly she tried to sit herself up, "Easy Ashley. Easy." Emily told her.

"Reid? How's Reid?" She asked.

"He's right here. He's fine." JJ said.

"Ashley? What happened?" Emily asked.

"I was on the phone to Reid and someone was at the door, I told him not to answer it and I was almost at his place. But I think he must have answered it anyway because he went quiet. I got here and came straight up and found him there, unconscious. I tried to get to him, but…"

"They got you in the back of the head and then you woke up here." JJ filled in.

Ashley nodded. A small smile spreading across her face.

"Do you need anything?" Rossi asked her as he helped Morgan move Reid up onto the sofa.

"A tissue or two would be good. I'm getting blood all over my jumper."

**And you all thought I'd kill Reid! What did you all think? xxx**


	35. Chapter 35

The safe house was a bizarre set up. It was an apartment building, Hotch had said it was so that a lot of people going in and out would be unnoticed. At first everyone thought that they would only be split between two of the apartments in the building, but that was quickly dismissed by Hotch as he explained the rooming situation. JJ and Penelope would share one place, Ashley and Emily in another, Morgan and Spencer in the third and Rossi and Hotch in the last.

Nobody was permitted to be in their apartment alone at any point at all. Nobody was allowed to leave the apartment building alone. There were so many rules that had to be followed that the entire team wondered if they were just going to be swallowed up whole.

Reid forced Morgan to sit on the sofa opposite him whilst Reid himself was meant to be resting and not supposed to stand up much. Morgan of course took the opportunity to interrogate him about his partnership with Ashley.

"So, Spencer. What's the deal with you and little Ashley?" He taunted, a grin from ear to ear.

"We're just a lot closer since she came back. I think it's been good for both of us to have the support." He shrugged innocently.

"So, you saying that she's supported you and you've supported her?" Morgan chuckled. "When are you going to ask her out?"

Reid's face instantly went bright red and he hit his head against the palm of his hand before looking at Morgan again. "I'm not going to ask her out because we're just close friends."

"You say that now, but I've seen the way you interact with her. You like her Reid, you just might not realize it yet."

"Of course I like her, she's…" He trailed off, face going an even deeper shade of red at what he'd just said. "I didn't mean it like that-" He rapidly started to backtrack, but Morgan was already smirking in victory.

"Don't worry pretty boy. Your secret is safe with me." He laughed.

"I'm not ready, not after Maeve…" Reid stuttered, the mood suddenly sadder than Morgan wanted it to be.

"Reid, you might not have noticed, but everyone else has seen the improvement. Give it time."

The conversation ended there. Morgan shifted to sit on a different chair and then grabbed the remote and flicked on a sports game that Spencer didn't pay attention to, instead grabbing the book from the coffee table beside him.

It was a little over three minutes later that the first bullet broke the glass window. Morgan reacted quickest, pulling himself and Reid down onto the floor in between the sofas and grabbing his cell phone as they went.

He cursed a few times as more bullets whizzed past them and they heard the unmistakable sound of glass breaking from the apartments above them. "I thought this was meant to be a safe house!" He shouted at Reid through the roar of gunfire.

"Don't you understand Morgan? Nowhere is safe for us until this is all over."

**Nothing ever goes well for them does it? xxx**


	36. Chapter 36

"Reid! Go find Emily and Ashley. I'll go to JJ and Penelope!" Morgan ordered. Before Reid even had a chance to answer him Morgan was crawling away, towards the door. Reid scrambled after him, wary of the bullets that were hitting the furniture on all sides of him.

When he made it out of the door he slammed it closed with the back of his foot, the door blocking the gunfire, or at least partially. He crawled after Morgan along the hallway until they came to the stairway and both men stood up, running up the stairs two at a time until Reid came to the door that led off the stairs towards Emily and Ashley's apartment.

He dropped down to his hands and knees as more gunfire sporadically came through their door, hitting the walls around him. When he actually made it to their door he faced a little issue. He'd have to raise his arm off of the floor to turn the handle and that made him an easier target. But then he remembered why he was there. Ashley and Emily were in there. He couldn't just carry on laying down on the floor, not knowing that every moment he spent feeling safer they were in danger in there.

Sighing he raised his hand as fast as he could and even though it was shaking out of near blind panic, he managed to turn the handle and shove it open. As soon as it opened he dropped his hand and went back to being the lowest to the ground he could be. As he crawled into the apartment he scanned everywhere he could see for the girls.

He saw Emily first. She was sat behind some of the kitchen cupboards, her gun tightly in her hand as splintered wood rocketed around her. Reid made it over to her, taking a second in the safe spot to catch his breath again. He opened his mouth to talk but Emily beat him to it.

"Ashley's in the other room. I got grazed and can't get over there." She told him. He then noticed the bleeding patch on her arm. Noticing that he was staring she quickly spoke again. "I'm fine. It's just a graze, I'll get over it."

He hesitated.

"Just go Reid." Emily snapped, it wasn't a hurtful snap, more of a 'if you don't go now I'll shove you into the gunfire myself' snap and Reid was used to those.

Somehow or another he made it across the room in fairly good time, he put it down to great feelings of adrenaline and panic at the bullets that were whizzing by so close to him. He thought about that for a moment. Bullets had been flying none stop for about the past six or seven minutes. That would mean whoever was shooting at them needed a pretty hefty supply of bullets.

The other room was in a fairly similar state, furniture with bullet holes in it, splinters flying along with the metal of the bullets. Then he saw the familiar blonde agent, crouched down, in between the wall and the far side of the bed.

There was no cover in between the door way Reid was standing in and where she was. He couldn't possibly try to get over there without getting hit by bullets. "Ashley?" He called.

"I'm fine Spencer!" She shouted back, looking up to meet his gaze. "Don't even think about-" Before she could finish and before he knew what he was doing he had crouched down and run over, taking cover beside her.

"Why did you do that? You could have been hit!"

"I don't know! I was right there anyway."

She sighed, but smiled. "I guess you're stuck with me till the bullets stop because there is no way on this earth I'm letting you run back across there. You don't have that much good luck twice in a row."

**Don't get shot Reid! Reviews?**


	37. Chapter 37

The gunfire had stopped a few minutes ago. Neither Reid, nor Ashley braved moving from their cover until they were sure the perimeter was cleared. Somehow in the fray their free hands had become locked in each others tight grasp, other hands clutching their guns.

"Emily?" Ashley called.

"I'm fine! How are you guys?" She shouted back.

"Yeah, we're fine. Reid nearly got hit a few times, but somehow all of them missed."

"Don't move yet you two. We should wait until someone else comes in and tells us it's clear. Until someone does they could still be out there."

"If they were still out there they would still be shooting!" Reid called back.

"Whatever you do, do not move, do you hear me Reid?" Emily shouted.

"Hey, guys they're long gone. You can come out now!" Ashley sighed in relief. Morgan.

She was up faster than Reid was and was out into the same room as Emily, instantly putting pressure on the wound. The blood wasn't running anymore, it was mostly just an occasional ooze. She heard Morgan come over to them. "How did you manage to be the only one that got hit Em?" Morgan laughed.

"I didn't expect bullets to come flying through the window of a safe house! It's in the title, it's supposed to be safe!"

Morgan opened his mouth to retort but Ashley beat him to it. "She has a point. How did they know we were at a safe house? How did they know which safe house? How did they know anything at all?"

"You think that the accomplice… Has an accomplice?" Morgan asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Either that or the accomplice is in the FBI. We'll have to get Garcia to run the facial rec on the accomplice from the videos and scan it through the FBI personnel files." Emily joined in.

"No you won't Emily. You need to get to a hospital to get yourself bandaged up." Reid called from across the room, where he had been talking to Rossi on his cell over by the door.

Emily looked like she was going to refuse, but Ashley spoke up again. "He's right Em. You need to get that checked out otherwise you won't be able to help us catch the accomplice. You'll just be in even more danger if you have a lame arm for weeks."

"Heck, I wouldn't be able to survive weeks without my arm, would I?" Emily asked, sighing.

"No, probably not." Morgan agreed.

"Fine. I'll get checked out." Emily relented.

"Good girl." Morgan agreed.

"I can come to the hospital with you if you want?" Ashley suggested.

"No, I'm sure that Derek can do that. You and Reid stay here. I'm sure the others will join you in here soon."

Morgan helped Emily to her feet and took the majority of her weight as they struggled out of the apartment and down the stairs to get to the waiting medical team.

Ashley turned to Spencer. "They're trying to set us up aren't they?" She sighed.

"And they think we don't notice whenever they do it." Reid laughed.

**What do you guys think?**


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